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218468 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-health-care/What+about+health+care%3F2010-04-23+04%3A56%3A00Sam+Richards to What about health care?
I think yes, healthcare should be an equal right, even to immigrants. If they get sick in the United States, sick enough to be taken to the emergency room since they couldn't take preventative measures because they have no primary care physician, the hospital will treat them anyway. That means that we will pay for their treatment, so why shouldn't we have healthcare for all so that we can avoid the suffering before emergency measures had to be taken? I don't know a lot about this subject and I'm sure it would cost more money to insure everyone with healthcare, but if these people are going to be here, I'd rather than run around healthy than run around infecting other people.
This is a tough question, because it's awful to want a hospital to turn someone away when this person is in need. However, I feel as if ILLEGAL immigrants should not have the advantages actual citizens have. It just wouldn't be fair. I mean, every citizen of the United States must pay taxes, and my biggest issue with illegal immigrants is that since they are, in fact, illegal, and not documented, they neglect to pay taxes. Our taxes pay towards healthcare, and towards other government functions, so I just feel as if they would be completely benifitting from health care services, without ever paying towards these services. Now, I am not going to claim I know anything about what illegal immigrants do for our economy, good or bad, because I don't. I am simply stating the unfairness regarding taxes which illegal immigrants do not pay, obviously, because they are not citizens of the United States on paper.
I totally agree, not only are they not contributing to run the government, they put a burden on the other taxpayers. That is my biggest pet peeve with illegal immigration, which is that they just come in, earn money, possibly take advantage of the government services funded by the tax payer money here and leave again once they earn enough, or stay to continue being a burden to the society. This issue can be immediately fixed if the government would just encourage illegal immigrants to get document and not instill and penalties against them, so that they can, at the least, pay taxes.
I agree that illegal immigrants should not have the health care advantages actual citizens of the United States have because it is not fair. Everyone else must pay taxes and therefore pay for them. Its sort of cheating in a way. If you are not paying taxes and are an illegal citizen of the United States and then all of a sudden fall fatally ill, who pays for this? The taxpayers. And on the other side if say, we were to get ill we would have to pay for our operations, medical bills, etc etc. Doesn't seem fair.
These illegal immigrants have no choice of whether or not they pay taxes, but I’m sure if they had the opportunity to come to the US legal and pay those taxes, they would. The system is set up so these immigrants can be on waiting lists for many years, as the quota of unskilled, legal immigrants is so small. This is, quite frankly, why so many immigrants come to the US illegally—it’s stupid to wait year upon year when the only risk you run, if you come to this country illegally, is deportation.
At any case, they still come here illegally, so they don’t pay income tax (the only tax they pay is on sales tax, which varies state to state and hovers around 7%) and they do take up plenty of our services including using our roads, public transportation, public safety, and pertinent to this discussion, health care, as it is illegal to turn someone away from life-threatening care regardless of immigration status. So for example, if an illegal immigrant goes to a hospital because they are having a heart attack, the hospital must treat the patient, incurring a loss. The hospital then charges those with health insurance more for care as well as billing the government through a program called the ‘uncompensated care program’—tax payers pick up this tab. That being said, it is stupid that we don’t allot these illegal immigrants the same rights as US citizens, in terms of receiving discounts on their health insurance, ability to even get health insurance, etc. if we are already paying for them in a more expensive setting (getting care at a hospital is far more costly than getting care at a doctor’s office). Since the tax payers are footing the bill, if illegal immigrants can afford to purchase health insurance, it’s nonsensical to not give them that right. Plain and simple.
Of course if we actually looked at this issue more broadly, we would see that we need this cheap labor to keep products cheap in the US as well as compete on a global scale. For example, we purchase crops from the US and international market. Without these illegal immigrants, the US agriculture system would foil since we would never be able to compete on the global scale. This goes for many industries including restaurant, clothing, and hospitality. Enforcing immigration laws would foil our economy.
So what we should do is talk less about deporting these immigrants and more about extending unskilled work visa’s. If we did this, we should then enforce anti-immigration laws on businesses that employ workers who do not have these proper visa’s. That way, we can ensure we are receiving tax revenue from these working. Once we have this tax revenue, we would not be subsidies all of these tax payer programs mentioned above such as roads, public safety, healthcare, etc.
They should not be here in the first place at all. I have no problem at all with LEGAL immigration. LEGAL immigration is what this country was founded upon. Illegal immigrants should not have any rights at all except to be treated humanely. They are simply just a burden on our society as a whole. We as a government should allot a certain number of seasonal visas for those who come to pick crops and other things. Allowing them to cross the border illegally is simply just wrong. We need to stop this flow of illegal immigrants to this country. At the least if we allow visas to some of them and control it, we could collect taxes.
I find your post to be contradictory. Our country was not founded on legal immigration. The founders of the U.S. came and took control of the land; there was nothing legal about it.
I also think it’s pretty contradictory to say illegal immigrants should have no rights expect to be treated humanely. I’m guessing health care would fall under humane treatment? I think the right to health is a pretty basic human right.
As far as illegal immigrants being a burden to society, sure they use public resources that they do not pay for, but read the post above. The U.S. would not be able to compete on a global scale without cheap labor. To say that illegal immigrants are only a burden is simply false.
I like your solution. I agree that we need to document illegal immigrants, but the system isn’t set up to allow low-skill legal immigration. There are many illegal immigrants that would be happy to pay taxes and gain more access to resources – like health care. But the system doesn’t allow low-skill immigrants to come into the U.S. legally.
So yes, let’s change the system so that the low-skilled workers (that our country depends on) have documented citizenship or temporary visa status, but don’t disregard the U.S.’s need for these workers in the process.
I am strong supporter of the new health care bill that has just come out. However, this bill is used to help those who are paying taxes and those who are giving to the United States of America. I don’t think that non-citizens should have health care. I think that they should try to get the necessary funds to pay for their own. Part of being an American citizen is reaping the benefits of the country in which millions serve and owe a great deal to in the U.S. I think that health care for a citizen is a right and a privilege. If we do open this health care up to immigrants I think that there needs to be strict guidelines as well as procedures to follow in order to possibly or potentially provide for their health care.
Do you realize that we already pay for their health care? When an illegal immigrant goes to the emergency room, it is illegal for the hospital to turn them away because of their immigration status when the disease is life threatening. Many times, the only reason that disease was life threatening was because they failed to get primary care. So for example, if you leave a cavity go untreated, that person will eventually get a bacterial infection which can spread to your blood stream, in turn, to other parts of your body—so effectively you can have a $100 cavity turn into literally a $100,000 open heart surgery + hospital stay. In the end, if the patient cannot pay for the rendered care, the hospital incurs the loss resulting in the hospital charging folks with insurance more money. States also have programs called uncompensated care programs which dole out literally millions of tax payers money yearly.
That being said, the fact that the Health Care Reform bill, which really should be called insurance reform, doesn’t allow illegal immigrants to even purchase insurance is crazy! Why would we not allow someone to buy health insurance if they can afford the plan without subsidies? Understandably, I see why some people would be against giving these illegal immigrants subsidies(i.e. money from tax payers to buy the plans), because they don’t pay income tax. Though from a strictly economical point of view, it would still be worth it to give these illegal immigrants the subsidies, since we pay for their care already through increases in private insurance costs/uncompensated care programs.
First, I want to know if you meant illegal immigrants or immigrants. Since my opinion is different concerning this matter on the two. For true immigrants, those who leave their country to permanently reside in another, they are following the rules, settling down, and abiding by the laws of that country (like paying taxes). Just because a person has immigrated does not mean they shouldn’t receive the same rights as those who have been in that country for years. Immigrants are citizens, too. At one point all of our family members were immigrants, and we need to remember that.
Illegal immigrants on the other hand, are not citizens. If you’re asking if illegal immigrants should receive the same rights as citizens concerning health care then no they should not. They do not pay taxes. They may follow most of the laws but are breaking a very important one. I have always been against illegal immigration. I can understand and sympathize with these people. And Sam brought up a great point in class yesterday about business and the free market. Yes they could be providing a great service and boosting our economy, but most of what they’re making is going to their family in a different country. I understand that illegal immigrants for the most part are cheap labor, and are the sole reason to having low prices on fruits, vegetables, and most textiles, but I do not think they should receive health care benefits since they are not citizens.
If illegal immigrants were provided with free health care, do you have any idea what would happen to our borders? They would be swamped as soon as the news hit the television or internet. Our issues with illegal immigration would grow exponentially. As much as I wish we could provide the world with health care, we can’t. And it’s probably true that the people in our country in need of health care are better off than most in other parts of the world. But we can’t do it. Our country is having enough of a problem trying to provide health care to its citizens; we don’t need to add on illegal immigrants.
This has got me thinking about why other countries don’t have the opportunities we do. What makes America so different? If anything, I think our country has little opportunities for immigrants. Sure they may get a job but unfortunately it is not likely that they will move up (as in be promoted to a higher level job) any time soon. I guess in a way I’m trying to understand why other countries can’t make opportunities themselves like the pioneers did for themselves. This country wasn’t always what it is today.
first off nice definition of Immigrants, but Migrants also people only staying for temporary needs. or people that are illegally coming. it is a very interesting question.
This is an excellent question and one that really doesn’t have a right answer because it is all based on opinion. In my opinion they should share the majority of our rights such as freedom of speech, press, and religion. However when it comes to health care I tend to stray away from equality however ignorant and pigheaded that is. Our current system is flawed through and through but it is taking care of the majority of Americans. If someone from another country would like to become a citizen I will welcome him or her with open arms and share what I have with them. But if you are telling me my son cannot have an operation because an illegal alien is having the same operation that’s where I draw the line.
My answer is yes. To me it seems natural that they should be able to be taken care of when they are ill. It seems natural to me that whenever anyone is ill or injured they should be assisted by whatever country they are in or by whatever people are near them. We are all fragile beings and if we do not aid others in their times of need, why should we expect that the system or others will aid us?
I will be the first person to admit that I do not know the economic implications of the different variations of health care plans, but I think that greed is likely to get in the way of what I perceive as a basic human right. So, I will take it a step further and say that not only should immigrants AND illegal immigrants be given access to necessary healthcare, but also visitors in the country. Travelling can be stressful enough without having to worry about what happens if you should get into an accident or some illness should set upon you.
I do understand that this would create more of a burden on hospitals and doctor’s offices, but I think if the efficiency of the health care system could be improved it may be feasible to extend health care to anyone in this country that needs it. I also think that if hospital staff had less responsibility to make sure people had insurance and could pay it would both reduce costs and increase interest for future doctors and nurses.
I watched the movie “Sicko” by Michael Moore because it was assigned for a class called Media and Democracy. While I am well aware that it was a very biased narrative of the issue of health care, I couldn’t help but be impressed when he visited England. I was impressed by the hospital he visited and the patients and health care professionals that he spoke with. He was literally laughed at when asking where people had to go to pay for the care they received in the hospital. The doctors he talked to spoke openly about how they would not want to work in a place where they had to worry about who they were treating and if they had money to pay for the care they received. I am sure there are negatives to the system they have in place there, but it just seemed right to me that they didn’t have to worry about the insurance or financial background of the patients they treated. I think the United States could definitely learn a few lessons from England’s health care system. This sort of turned into a rant about universal health care, but the point is that in my opinion I have no more of a right to good health care than a poor immigrant.
I think that health care should be an equal right to everyone that is a citizen of the specific country that they live in. So yes, immigrants should have the same right to health care as the country’s citizens, as long as they first make the effort to become citizens. It’s a two-step process. And with so many people immigrating into the United States, I think it’s important to keep this in mind. In order to benefit from the same advantages and freedoms that everyone in our country enjoys, you must first become a citizen. Does it require a little bit of work? Yes, but it’s a necessary filter for the already scarce institution of health care.
Health care is already a right. Anyone can go into an emergency room and receive treatment. It is health insurance that is a privilege to us. We purchase things because they are privileges, and that not everyone can afford them. Health insurance is like this. If we gave everyone health insurance our system would go bankrupt. We have the best healthcare system in the world. It’s not our delivery system that needs to change, its how we provide insurance. It should be provided at a lower cost if anything. The government should not give it to people like it’s a freebie
Yes I think health care should be a equal rights between everyone, Especially for the legal immigrants because that would not be fair to them. Everyone gets sick or injured sometime during their lives and they should have the right to see a doctor and get taken care of. I think whenever a person is denied a doctor or for care that is murder, and doctors job is to help people and save lives, that like contradicting what they believe in and all the education they receive. And for what? So they can tell someone they can't help them because they don't have health care. Plus, think of it this way, what if an immigrant (legal or illegal) becomes very ill with a sickness that is extremely contagious and they go to the doctor to seek help and to be cure before the disease or sickness gets out of control and spread throughout the body. Then they get to the doctor and finds out that there is nothing that can be done to help this person, so they send this person back home, either in a cab, or they get on the buses and trains to get home, surrounding themselves with people who are healthy and not sick. Because this one person cannot get treatment for his sickness he is likely to spread his contagious disease to innocent healthy people, (citizens or not, with healthcare or not). Putting more families in debt and in danger of spreading this disease as well, when all of this could have been avoided in the beginning. And because of this, doctors will become over worked and probably underpaid, and getting less sleep at night or probably not sleeping at all, which could lead to them making a mistake on another patient because their bodies are not functioning right because of lack of rest.
And what about innocent babies and children that, they do not understand how not to get sick and to avoid catching a disease, so does that mean they should be denied to and not help! I would like to know where is the sympathy, especially in America "all men are create equal". If I were a person who determine who gets health care and who don't I would feel extremely terrible knowing that everyone don't have the same rights especially for something that is between life or death because this is exactly what this between "life and death" because people have died because of lack of health care and people will continue to die if something is not done about this. The people in control really need to think about their actions and really put people's lives and family members into consideration because this is not cool.
I think that in poorer countries, where they have limited health care for the people who was already born and raised there should come up with a system that distribute the health care so only when someone becomes very ill and really need to see a doctor and can seek help. I don't know that was just and idea. But this is a really hard topic to discuss because this is so important to people and their lives and their children lives and so forth. I just feel like this is our world and we all need to come together and work out a system they will allow for people to have some sort of health care and not have to worry about if they will die and how they are going to pay back loans and bills for something that should already be given to them.
I think that everyone who is a citizen of our country deserves health care. So my answer would in part be yes. However, illegal immigrants who do not pay taxes which would fund health care, do not deserve to be protected by health care that is funded by taxpayers. If we let illegal immigrants do this (get free health care without paying taxes) it would be an absolute drain on our economy. In reality, this does happen though. Immigrants get over the border every day, and they end up in the United States. Then, they get sick, and they need health care. It’s a cycle that drains on the economy.
Okay, I just want to make something clear for people, because American citizen,seem to be very confused about this whole illegal immigrant and citizen thing. Most people whom I meet are appalled when I tell them that I'm not a citizen. There are three different statuses one can have. You can be an illegal immigrant, a resident, or a citizen. An illegal immigrant is one who is undocumented and not on the books, we do not have record of these people living among us. A resident is one who has migrated from another country, is documented, pays taxes, but just doesn't want to be claimed by the U.S. because either they want to continue honoring their country or it's not in their interest. Third of all, you can be a U.S. citizen, one who pays taxes, is looked for in foreign countries if some kind of disaster happens and was born on U.S soil or went through the naturalization process.
It really ticks me off when people assume I'm illegal because I'm not a citizen, it's not an if this than that situation so do research and be more informed of your own government policies. And I believe all those who are documented in the U.S. should benefit from the Health Care Reform because we are all paying an equal price for it. Those who are not documented should be given residency which is not citizenship. That way these people can help pay for the Health Care Reform and contribute to the U.S. economy more effectively. People may think that people choose to stay illegal to avoid paying taxes but most of the people I've met are not documented because the government denies them the right and because they don't have the money because they are paid minimum wage by companies who exploit them.
Wow this is a great question and after reading the multiple responses posted by obviously ill informed and close-minded individuals I felt like I definitely had to respond to this issue. The responses that really got me upset were from those people saying that immigrants should not be given the same healthcare as citizens. Are you people dumb or just plain ignorant? God this just makes me so mad at the people in this class. Maybe its just some people who feel this way, but that is definitely more people than I thought would be so ill informed. Im an immigrant myself and have healthcare provided to me. My whole family also just recently got healthcare. I did not have healthcare provided by the government until my mom got married to a United States citizen. When I got sick we couldn't afford to go to the doctor. When my grandmother had cancer we had to pay cash while my mom was a single parent in college and working at the same time. We barely got enough money for my grandma to get the operation. If we didn't get her the operation she would have died and it would be the fault of ignorant people like you! We are not illegal immigrants. We came here for a better life and work extremely hard for everything we have. When you ignorant people declare that we don't deserve the same rights because we are not citizens it is just ridiculous. There are many different reasons for why some individuals cannot become citizens. Coming from Russia it makes it that much more difficult. Half of my family is in Russia and my uncle is a general in the Russian military. If the military found out that his whole family(us) became citizens they may renounce him from his position. There are other reasons as well but this is a major one. So before you make stupid remarks you should all get educated about the matter.
Also I don't understand why the majority of you think of immigrants as "pear picking, uneducated losers". Are you serious ???!!!! Because most of the doctors, lawyers, and business people I know are immigrants. The people who are providing healthcare for you are themselves immigrants! If it wasn't for them your asses would be sick or worse dead! Wow sorry for the rant but I am just so freaken mad right now!!!! Immigrants are very smart, work hard, and deserve the same rights as you natural born citizens. My family and I are permanent residents of the United States and reside here completely legally. We deserve the same benefits of this country as you do. Do you not realize that your families were also immigrants. They were offered healthcare when they came here weren't they? So now that you are citizens you have the audacity to declare who should and should not be offered healthcare. I don't think so! Those of you who don't agree, I don't care because I know I am speaking for all immigrants when I tell you off. If god forbid in the future immigrants are prevented from receiving healthcare, the blood of millions of people will be on your hands. Im done with my rant, its ultimately up to you to get educated or continue to be ignorant baboons!
I think it depends on the situation. In my opinion, the most reasonable healthcare system would have “socialized” or “universal” (depending on what political party you are) for large scale, life threatening procedures while the day-to-day stuff should get covered by the private stuff. I think that would alleviate a lot of the downsides to either system done by themselves. I think this is exactly what should be done with illegals. I don't feel the need to burden the taxpayers with an illegal's nonemergency care, but are you really going to turn someone away and let them die because they can't afford the are?
I believe that health care should be an equal right to everyone. What gives people in the U.S. the right to decide that some group of individuals doesn’t deserve the right of health care? We could be sentencing some of these immigrants to death if they can’t afford health care on their own and we don’t offer it to them. I know that it would create a bigger burden on hospitals and the government if they have to support illegal immigrants but if they tried hard enough I’m sure illegal immigrants would find a way around the system anyway so we might as well just give everyone health care from the beginning.
The new healthcare system should be open to U.S. residents and citizens. Why should people who are here illegally benefit from the same things as legal people living in the U.S.? I understand that most of these people come to the U.S. to have a chance at a better life and that they are often escaping oppression, wars, famine, and other problems in their country, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and sneaking into the country illegally is definitely the wrong way. If illegal immigrants can receive the same things as U.S. citizens then what would motivate anyone else to become residents or citizens?
A lot of people go through a lot of trouble and hardships to become legal citizens or become legal residents and they do it so that they can receive all of the benefits that this country has to offer, but if there are other people coming into the country through illegal means, what's the point? If people know that they can come in and get healthcare without having to do the paperwork and the other things, I guarantee we will see a huge increase in illegal immigration in the next few years.
I don't want people to get confused with what I'm saying. I don't have anything against illegal immigrants. They do a lot for our country's agricultural economy as far as increasing the amount of produce that is available to send to market. A lot of people complain that they are taking money away from Americans that could use the jobs, but do you really think that companies didn't initially try to give those jobs to Americans? We're a proud group of people and there are a lot of jobs that we won't do. It seems that working out in the sun all day picking fruit is one of those things that people aren't willing to do. That seems more like a work ethic problem in citizens than it sounds like an illegal immigration problem.
If they want to be here and are going to be productive members of society, then I don't really have an issue with them. I just think there needs to be some limitations as far as the things they can take part in while living here under an illegal status, and healthcare is one of those things. It may sound selfish to want them to work here to benefit our economy, but not help them if they're injured or sick, but I promise you that is not my intent. I just believe that some things need to remain options for only legal residents and citizens.
First of all this is a very poorly worded question. Whoever you are that said this is a moron. Immigrants and illegal aliens(immigrants) are two completely different things. Immigrants who immigrate to the United States legally and become CITIZENS should have the same rights as any other citizen. This only makes sense if you think about it logically. If I moved from Canada to the united states at the age of 2 and became a citizen, why would I not have the same legal rights as anyone else? There are three basic immigrant statuses that you fall into when living in America. The first one is an illegal immigrant. This is an illegal occupation without documentation. This is for the people who supposed run across the border and find themselves in the southern u.s. The next status is legal resident. This is not considered and American citizen. Legal residents have immigrated legally and chose to reside in the U.S. They can be anybody and hold any occupation except president of the U.S. Becoming a legal resident is part of the process that enables you to become an American citizen. So often times legal residents are either people who chose to live here and still hold their original citizen ship to their birth country, or people who are in the process of becoming American citizens. The last status is citizen. This is for all the people born in American who are citizens by nationality. This is also for people who have immigrated into the United States and gone through the process of becoming citizens. I think that any legal American citizen should receive equal treatment and healthcare. Healthcare should be a right for American citizens. The government should be one to take care of its people instead of consistently ripping off the American public with private healthcare. I don’t exactly know how I feel about saying that illegal aliens shouldn’t receive healthcare. I do agree that it is not fair for people to benefit from healthcare without having put money into it because they are illegals. It isn’t fair yet it also isn’t right to throw those people out on the street. They are not criminals and usually aren’t the ones disturbing the peace. Most of the illegal immigrants who cross into the united states are hard working people that fill up the jobs that most Americans do not want to do. They themselves are looking for a better life, they aren’t looking to come to the U.S. and rip off the Americans in their health care and emergency facilities. They are looking to better their lives, and im sure if they could come here legally they would. Not everybody has the luxury of being born into money or able to payoff every expense they need. Second, this kids soc class was working on whether immigration should receive the same healthcare benefits as citizens for a whole week? Immigrants are large contributers to this countrys economy, and don’t forget who started the united states anyways, immigrants.
I think that if the immigrants in question are illegal that they definitely should not be entitled to health care in our country. There are so many issues with health care in our country already and there are astronomical costs associated with the type of care that our country provides. I think that there are also issues with this because if our country had a different type of health care such as a national health care program, my thinking might be different. I do believe that everyone in this country should be entitled to access to our healthcare system and although there are steps being implemented currently to make sure that more people in our country have access to the medical care they need. I am a health policy major so we talk about this issue all the time. The costs alone are enough to say that we should not allow illegal immigrants to use our healthcare system but at the same time we have a law that if someone comes into the emergency room we need to treat them regardless of whether the person has insurance or not. I guess it doesnt matter who is coming in or not because there are so many people in this country that are American citizens and do not have health insurance yet they get treated when they come to the hospital so essentially it could be viewed as the same thing.This is an argument that prompts many people to discuss the positives associated with a public health system in the United States. The people that pay taxes in this country are the ones that have to take care of these costs and because of all of the people in our country that do not have insurance their taxes are raising. This issue also falls into the category of education. Children of illegal immigrants have access to the public school system because it is technically not their fault that they are here illegally and it is our duty to educate them. This is such a grey issue and I dont know if it will ever be black and white. As someone who believes that everyone should have access to healthcare in America, it is hard for me to say that I dont think we should give illegal immigrants health care. I think that there should be some sort of provision put in place to take care of people who are illegal immigrants so that costs do not go up for the people in this country that do pay will not have to pay more.
This question really hits home for me because I am an immigrant and the reason that my family came to this country was because my little brother was sick. My little brother was born with hydrocephalus, which is a condition where liquid is stored in the brain and if not treated can be fatal. In Mexico there is no healthcare and to be able to save my little brother it was going to cost us a lot of money, which we did not have. Therefore, since my dad was already working in the US, we decided to come live with him so my brother could the proper healthcare that he needed. We had heard that the US had a wonderful healthcare. My brother underwent two surgeries and thankfully he is alright now. I am thankful everyday that my parents made this decision to come to the US. I know that there are many immigrant kids that wouldn’t have been so lucky to receive care like my brother did. So yes why can’t healthcare be equal for everyone? Don’t we all deserve the right to live? Would the doctors just let kids in need sick and have in their conscious that they could’ve done something about it? I feel very strongly about this issue not only because of my little brother, but for all the kids that are in need of healthcare but can’t because their immigrants. There need to be something done about this because I don’t think that denying a child health is morally right. Therefore, I am here at Penn State looking to major in the health field to maybe one day help all these kids in need. I am not saying that only kids should get healthcare, I think we all should have healthcare, but especially kids. The US is known to give people equal opportunities so why should healthcare be any different? People need to understand the seriousness of denying people healthcare. I am grateful for Obama’s health care reform because now many people will be able to afford quality healthcare. I am especially grateful for the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act because millions of kids will be provided with health insurance they didn’t; preciously have. Immigrants that come to this country to work and better their lives have the same rights to have these privileges as anyone else. As far as illegal immigrants and legal ones, I do agree that people should pay taxes to go towards healthcare, so equal rights should be towards legal immigrants because its only fair.
Drawing the lines to designate the respective parameters of health care is a daunting and near impossible task. Who deserves it? Who needs it? Who will get the best? It is all very difficult to assess. I think the major problem is being able to say no to someone that may potentially have a serious illness. No one wants to be the person that has to do that, but if we approach health care with a “no illegals” attitude, someone will ultimately have to fill this role. On the other hand, allowing these illegal immigrants to consume our resources and drive up health care costs with unpaid for procedures is completely unacceptable and detrimental to the economy. Clearly there is quite a debate at hand.
My personal position is on the side of a “no illegals” approach. I do not feel that millions of illegal immigrants have the right to our use resources and drive up our costs when they have demonstrated no concrete affiliation with out government and our system of operations. Unpaid for visits to the ER exponentially drive up costs and under the current rules and guidelines for hospitals, they simply can’t refute care. I don’t want to make it seem like you have to have money to receive health care, but you have to at least be accounted for. I don’t think the answer is completely refusing care for these people, but strict regulations and protocols undoubtedly need to be put in place.
I have no problem with legal immigrants, and actually have several in my family who simply choose not to become citizens. That is completely fine and completely acceptable because, as Sam mentioned, it is documented. The problems arise when there are millions upon millions of people who are undocumented and unaccounted for, using resources. It is not hard to see why this presents a problem. However I am not a fan of kicking the illegal immigrants who are already here out of the country as many people suggest. I believe that we should grant the illegal immigrants who are already here citizenship in exchange for their abidance by our laws (ie paying taxes, etc). I don’t think this is too much to ask for, and I feel that it addresses the major problems the illegal immigrants are causing.
I would also like to point out that this type of debate (“who deserve health care”) is not only a problem with illegal immigrants. Just to show what a mess our health care system is, not only do we have millions of unaccounted for individuals but we also have millions of individuals without health insurance. Even though these people are indeed legal, the fact that they don’t have health insurance puts them in a similar boat with the illegals, making health care a quite expensive aspect of our lives. But perhaps this is another discussion…
I am torn up about this subject. I am fortunate enough to have always had healthcare and never had to worry about if I could afford to see the doctor. I do think there needs to be some sort of self responsibility. For example, I worked very hard through college to be able to find a job this summer and my company will pay for my healthcare. My parents also work hard for their healthcare benefits. I realize there are people who are not as fortunate as myself, but I do not think that it should be given out for free.
My answer to this question is a simple one. Absolutely they should have rights to health care in the United States, regardless of whether they are "illegal" or not. Health care is a human right, not a privilege, not a gift, a right. When we are sick, we have the right to health. We have the right to curing our illness and continuing to live our lives. Your status as an immigrant in this country has no place in determining the level of health care you can receive. For the people who want to dictate this decision based on "paying taxes," I want to ask all of you to put yourself in the other person's shoes. You are from a country that has little opportunity to offer, a poor health care system, and doesn't meet what your are looking for in life. So what would you do? You would immigrate to a new country, regardless of what it took. If that meant doing so illegally, you would do it too. So, upon your arrival, you become sick with a curable illness, would you not want to be taken care of? You are damn right you would. You would hope that people in that nation would show some compassion to you, help your family out, and allow you to continue working towards success. We place so much emphasis on money and the "burden" it places on us that we forget to look at our neighbors as humans. Life is about happiness, not money. In order to have life, you have to be taken care of, you have to be healthy. I know that, at least for me, I have no problem paying more taxes if it means that I can help save somebodies life. I would hope they would do the same for me. There are a plethora of reasons why people have to stay "illegal" too. It isn't that they are lazy or like "skirting" the law, there are family relationships that could be in danger and the process itself I would imagine is extraordinarily expensive to go through. So for someone who doesn't want their family to be in danger, or can't find the means to become a "legal tax paying whatever," staying "illegal" is their only choice. There is no way we can't provide them the care they need. Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't try to take steps to becoming a legal immigrant, we just need to understand it isn't always as clear cut as we want to think it is. Like everything else in life, its messy. Lastly, I want to address the terminology "illegal immigrant." I hate it. People can't be illegal, there is no such thing as an illegal person. Their actions may be illegal, but when we refer to them as illegal immigrants I feel we are denoting that person as being "illegal.' I just feel we need to be more sensitive to the issues that drive all of us in life. The pursuit of life and happiness. We should extend health care to illegal immigrants because they have a right to it, just like all of us do.
People who were not born in this country are no different than people who were born in this country. We all share the same basic functions and the same species name. Taking care of and looking after one another is one of the most fundamental survival tactics of any species. The fact that we all don't share the same level of care (in terms of health, income, access to food/water) seems really wrong to me. In an ideal world, we would all be accepted as members of humanity and we would all receive the same level of health care. Sadly this is not the case, and even people who are citizens of a country, myself included, still are not covered in terms of health care. The technology that countless members of our society use to try and find cures to new health ailments, and even those that study to become nurses and doctors that simply help save lives day after day in a hospital should share their gifts of assisting human life with all of humanity. When a natural disaster occurs (such as Haiti) many American doctors flocked to the nation in trouble to assist as much as they can. In places in Africa or Central America where poverty stricken nations are losing their populations due to malnutrition, inadequate sources of water and shelter, it makes me wonder why more people don't leave and help?
Well, there are some immigrants who gain US citizenship upon coming to this country— so yes, I think they deserve the same health care privileges as US born citizens, because we are all citizens of the country and should obtain the same rights. If you mean illegal immigrants, then that’s a different story. I’m not really sure. I feel like if they were in a bad situation, health wise, and they absolutely needed help, are you really just going to let the person be hurt or even die? Although, at the same time if they are illegally coming into the country and seeking better health care than their country, it might not be right. That’s a tough question to answer.
This is a great question and no doubt if the government can afford it they should give health care to immigrants as well as of course citizens of this country. But the government’s first preference and right now their focus should be on helping the citizens of this country out first, since they deserve it the most. The citizens of this country have supported this country the most, and for the longest time so they deserve to have more treatment, that doesn’t mean that if you are an immigrant you should be treated differently. The point I am trying to make is a citizen of a country deserves first preference and more attention because they are the reason our country is where it is. The health care plan is going to help a lot of people in need, and I feel the people who probably need it the most are the immigrants because they usually are working jobs that don’t pay a lot and are the people who are getting the low end of benefits from a country. Also if an illegal immigrant wants to receive health care, I think they should get it as long he or she is paying their taxes, though they are illegal they still play a big role in our economy, and country. So if they can pay taxes then why can’t they also receive health care, but this should not be the governments first concern it should be to help the citizens, and then worry about the immigrants.
I believe that illegal immigrants should not have the right to healthcare coverage, however, in the case of life or death anybody should receive the immediate care that they need in order to live. On one hand, it seems very financially unrealistic to provide healthcare for anybody that enters our country, because technically this could mean anybody on Earth. It is just unreasonable to think that the United States government can afford to take on the financial responsibility to provide health care for all people including immigrants. Even citizens of the United States are not guaranteed health care, so we must first provide health care to actual citizens and legal immigrants before we can even consider guaranteeing health care for illegal immigrants. By establishing a stipulation that can be easily determined such as “life or death” might be hard on the medical side of this issue. However, I believe that it is just plain unethical for our country to deny somebody the right to health services that can save their life. I would foresee my idea causing trouble in the system, because people would argue that “quality of life” that is on the downward slope for somebody might lead to essentially a life or death operation. However, I still believe that it is our responsibility as citizens of the United States to stand by our belief that “all people are created equal.” I also would argue that our country has made decisions to provide military services to help people in other countries, so how is that much different than helping save the lives of people on our own land.
There are other issues to consider when taking this topic into consideration. When I look at the other side of things I think about issues like, what if illegal immigrants carrying in diseases or illnesses that could be spread to masses of people if not treated? What do we do in that situation? Or what about illegitimate marriages in order to gain citizenship and healthcare? We need to consider what ethics come into concern and what ways in which people may do things to get around laws. We do not want a government or system that encourages people to make bad decisions in order gain access to health care, and in many ways that is the environment of the health care industry in the United States today. The other thing I keep thinking about is wouldn’t it turn in all of the illegal immigrants because all health care needs to be thoroughly documents. How would they set up a system in which health care would be provided without alluding to the fact that someone was an illegal immigrant? This is an issue with many sides to address and will be a very complicated topic to resolve.
I think that everyone should be offered healthcare, regardless of your social status. Some people may be really hard workers and have a job that doesn’t supply healthcare. Today it is even harder because things cost a lot more, and if you have three kids you will want to have healthcare to take care of them. Sometimes families really struggle and even if you work really hard just to take care of your family and supply food and everything you possibly want to. I think healthcare should be offered to everyone that at least tries but they are just struggling, and anyone who really needs it.
I definitely think so. Like the previous post, I agree that it should be offered regardless of social status or class. Health-care is so important and should be considered a basic human right. I don't understand why so many people think otherwise. I think immigrants deserve to be treated for their ailment just as much as the next guy, maybe even more, because they can't afford to pay for the medical bills. Immigrants have such a hard time in this country as it is and deserve to be fairly treated in the health-care system just like the rest of us.
I'm so excited that healthcare here is changing now, because now people who are gay or lesbian identified can finally visit their partners in the hospital. Imagine being denied the right to sit and hold your loved ones hand, because in the eyes of the Government you both aren't really together. Imagine not being able to give that last hug goodbye or say those last words because you are gay and it doesn't count that you have a "union." Now, these people finally have a small portion of what they have been searching for. We are taking big strides in this country towards equality and I can't see what else is to come.
Healthcare is a completely different issue and it is just really difficult to combine the two issues and come up with a resolution. I mean, damn, I wish car insurance could just be given to me. Oh and life/home insurance… that'd be nice. So everyone can just have equal rights to everything regardless of how they worked in their life, or what roads they took to be successful. Maybe college should be free too, because everyone deserves an education. You know.. everyone deserves food, so why don't we make that free too. We should just be offered all these things because we deserve them. So lets just completely socialize our country. And we can work, and just not make any money, because all of it can go to these things that we deserve because of our basic human rights. I probably shouldn't even post on this because I obviously don't agree with this stuff to begin with. I mean, yeah in a perfect world everyone would get everything they need just because they are citizens or human or whatever. But our worlds' not perfect. We live in society based upon money, as annoying as it is. Combining these two issues is just way too complicated because neither of them have a perfect solution.
It is kind of difficult to respond to a video when the subject does not understand the question he is proposing. He says "immigrants" but does not actually specify the most important part of the issue. He says "should health Care be an equal right to everyone" well no probably. The issue of health care being an equal right to every body is a hard debate even without incorporating people who are not citizens of this country legally. The best example of how health care should be handled I feel comes from John Mackey the president of Whole Foods. I worked at Whole Foods it is the most friendly business when dealing with a local farmer and helping them and with trying to get affordable great organic foods to the consumer who desires them. What he wonders is why anyone expects to get health care at anything other than the cost currently provided for the CITIZENS of this country. The reason he proposes this is because other than water there is no other resource in our Nation provided to the citizens for virtually no cost. There is no tax that goes towards collecting money for people who can not feed their families, because simply, that's just not how thing work. Providing health care to everyone provides to many complications and really makes no sense because unlike food's desirability, people desire health care consistently on how they treat their bodies. I wonder what these people think providing health care to everyone is going to do to the desirability of being a doctor. Why would anyone want to go to medial school and work their ass off and maximize their intelligence to get paid like a state employee. It makes no sense, in order to have the best and brightest in the medical field there needs to be an incentive for the best and brightest to be there. Ignoring the fact that the gentleman in the video just blankly threw out the idea of health care for everyone. There is no reason to provide compensation for anyone who enters the country illegally. I think everyone who does enter this country illegal is fortunate, and that's great but they are not citizens and that's what it comes down to. I know people argue that this nation was built upon letting in everyone, but that really is not applicable today because we're not some rag tag collection of poor and exiled, we are the most powerful nation on earth. You do not become the most powerful nation on the planet by giving out hand outs or sharing the wealth, this nation is built on rewarding the people who work to the top and allwoing them to spend their resources on health care to preserve their legacy.
Yes, everyone deserves an equal right to health care, your right to being treated when ill should never be based on wealth or which cover you possess. Every life is of equal value, thus every person is entitled to be treated. The USA is the only developed democracy in the world without free public health care, is this not a clear hint that a private system is flawed. A society that can turn someone away from a hospital with their life at risk, based purely on their inability to gain a insurance policy, whether its due to being an immigrant or from being financially unstable, is one that should be ashamed, and doing anything possible to instigate change.
An immigrant is as much a citizen as someone born within the country, and thus deserves the same right to Health care. It is immoral and inhumane to use someones status within a community as justification to exclude them from receiving care. It is everyone right as a human to be treated when needs be. I struggle to see how some of these posts can argue that immigrants are less deserving than American citizens, simply because they were not born in the country. I could understand illegal immigrants maybe not having as exclusive access to health care when it is for minor issues such as the common cold, however, when it is anything serious no questions need to be asked. How can anyone argue that a life is not as important based on social status. It is the governments obligation to ensure that anyone within their land has that opportunity to be treated regardless of any determining factors.
I know this is a very divisive subject that splits opinion, but I feel it is a moral duty to offer no selectivity when a life is at risk. One person argued he would be livid if an illegal immigrant got an operation before his son, I can see the argument here, but it comes down to the fact that the illegal immigrants life decision previous to this event should have no bearing on his place in the queue for a life changing operation. Everyone should be dealt with as soon as possible, no system is perfect, but one that selects who 'deserves' treatment based on wealth and status, is as far from perfect as its possible to get.
Furthermore, when people argue that by being illegal, they chose to lose access to health care, they must clearly ignore the fact that many illegal immigrant children are not here out of their own personal choice. Equality is not always possible or attainable but when it comes to health care, equality can be sought at all costs, nothing is more important as a basis human right than the right to being treated when life i at risk.
I think that health care should be extended to all citizens and immigrants as long as they are paying equal taxes in our country. I think that as long as they are paying what we are paying for the services, then why would we take away their right to have a health care plan that they can rely on. Everybody wants to stay healthy and they want their family to be safe, so how could we deny them the rights of health care if they are paying taxes just like the rest of us? However, if they are illegal immigrants and are not paying taxes, I think that they shouldn’t receive health care because we are paying for their care when they are not paying any taxes.
This seems to be a very hard question initially asked however when you think about it, it really is not. Yes, all people should be given equal and comprehensive care in hospitals and medical centers. It will be a difficult task but it is possible, many countries have this established. When we visit their countries and become ill we receive medical attention with little to no cost. When they come to visit us, they better hope to never become ill because unfortunately we are not nearly as welcoming and friendly. Our hospitals are a lot more chaotic but what do you expect when our medical system is driven more by money than by the goal to help the people.
Why is this even a question? I feel that not allowing immigrants to receive health care is totally bizarre. If they came to this country legally then why would they not receive some type of health care just like everyone else? It would be extreme racism and disrespect if we did not allow immigrants to receive health care. They are people too and if they come to the United States they are most likely trying to receive better opportunities. I feel that this is kind of a stupid question and pretty immature. Denying health care to immigrants is a horrible idea to me.
All people should be entitled to receive proper health care. A hospital has no right to deny anyone service because they are an immigrant. Just because an individual is an immigrant does not eliminated from the human race. Yes they are still homo sapiens just like the rest of the population and should be given equal opportunity to get medical assistance. Who are we to let another person of the human race to suffer from illness just because they they not begin their lives in this country? That is ridiculous. Who is it hurting for them to receive health care? Sure there are some tax dollars but for the amount of labor they do, at least they deserve it. Even if they were not hardworking, they still should get granted health care because it should be another humans decision on whether another human should live or die. That is basically the point. And its funny because if we go over to other countries and get sick we would expect to be treated immediately. Right? Do unto others as you want done to you!
Yes health care should be for everyone even immigrants, because I believe that if someone is sick and they need health care they should be taken care of. I feel that there could be limitations put on the amount of “free” healthcare that they receive but they should be able to receive it. Also because if you deny health care to immigrants then you would be denying it to the poor because most illegal immigrants are poor or close to poverty, also we let them in our country when we need them so shouldn’t we at least make sure they are healthy?
I am not the most knowledgeable about health care and the new health care bill that came out. But, I do not necessarily think that non-citizens should be reaping the benefits that tax paying citizens also receive. I think that if you are living in the United State illegally, you should work hard to be able to become a citizen and get health care. However, I hate to say that, because I do not like to think about people in our country living without health care. We are indeed the “land of opportunity” aren’t we? This is a pretty tough question, but in the end, I think that it only fair for the tax paying citizens to receive health care.
To start, I am operating under the assumption that this question regards a hypothetical government run insurance program since, if they have the money, there is certainly some insurance company that would offer coverage. That being said, my instinctual reaction to the question of whether illegal immigrants should have public health care is to say absolutely not. Public programs are privileges of the citizens. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for public programs since they do not pay taxes. This would not even be a matter for debate if we were discussing the very-in-the-red social security system, but people tend to get soft when discussing health care. I understand the desire for a better life and the desire for upward mobility that immigrants crave but the fact remains that if they do not pay taxes they are simply a drain on the government, whose role it is to act on behalf of its citizenry. However, there is another issue to account for. Part of the reason the government is mandating health care is that it becomes more of a burden on tax payers to cover the costs of treatments for those who cannot afford coverage. Since hospitals are required to treat the seriously ill regardless of ability to pay, the bill is often pushed upon those who have a means of payment. Imagine an illegal immigrant enters an emergency room having a heart attack. Since he/she will not be turned away he/she will receive treatment that may include open heart surgery, days of recovery, not to mention the time of many doctors. The cost for such a treatment could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that will be paid by tax payers in order to keep the hospitals solvent. It seems, then, that we are footing the bill for immigrants whether we like it or not, so why not provide some sort of insurance to mitigate the liability?
I believe that you have to experience immigration, as I have, to have a slight right of judgment. Unfortunately, we cannot choose where to be born. Some countries have endless wars and some do not have enough colleges to educate half their population. Some do not have enough jobs and some have less freedom than they would in an American prison. The United States is full of resources, power and opportunities. It has endless jobs and a valued economy. Immigrants simply move to the United States of America to have a better life and earn a better way of living. I believe that people should have the freedom to immigrate to the United States because they help the economy and deserve the same opportunities as those born in the United States. .
A frequent dispute among those opposing further immigration is that immigrants seize U.S. jobs that are needed by American citizens. Surprisingly, many argue that immigrants are ruining the economy by taking such jobs for lower wages than Americans would. But most immigrants fill low skill jobs that are not wanted by Americans, jobs that are looked down upon. Immigrants do what they can to survive and help their families, and by doing so they help the economy in a many ways. More workers means more output. Julian L. Simon, author of The Economic Consequences of Immigration, states, “Immigration does not exacerbate unemployment … Immigrants not only take jobs, but also create them. Their purchases increase the demand for labor, leading to new hires roughly equal in number to the immigrant workers.” More people means more consumers spending money on food, rent, and a range of necessities and luxuries that spur production and create jobs elsewhere. Opponents of immigration fail to recognize these secondary effects of immigrant employment. They focus only on the original taking of jobs without accounting for job creation and economic growth. If these factors are taken into account, it becomes clear that immigrants actually inject much-needed support and vigor into the economy. If the United States is having economy trouble than they should look elsewhere before they blame immigrants.
Currently, the government is spending $8 billion per month on the continuing occupation of Iraq (www.speaker.gov). Immigrants, legal or not, do not harm the economy in any way, they improve it. There are many immigrants who successfully graduate college and pursue a career. There are many immigrants who agree to work really hard for such a little money to feed their family. And most importantly, there are many immigrants who would work day and night to save money for their kids to go to college, so they can achieve what their parents could not. The economy is corrupted by many things and immigration is not one of them. According to office of national drug control budget records, The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars on the war on drugs while the state spends another $30 million.(www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov) Fixing the economy does not have to mean killing more people at the Mexican border, we just simply need to have more rational actions. Immigrants take the low skill jobs that pay low wages. They pay taxes, rent houses, buy car insurance and groceries just like everyone else. How can they possibly hurt the economy? Some might argue that immigrant workers might raise American taxes using welfare and other programs to help them financially. But it is the fact that Americans also pay hundreds of dollars to support war, which always puzzles me, who would rather choose to support killing people instead of helping others start a life?
What a sticky situation to be in. I feel like immigration is such a difficult topic to talk about. But I do think that it is impossible for a country who is founded on immigration to take a stance that is against immigration. Immigration is fundamental to our economy. I think when people hear the word immigration they automatically think of illegal's crossing the border to our south and forget about the other kinds of immigration. I think immigration is one of the least understood concepts because as with everything, there are a few people who cross the line and ruin everything. Because really the majority of people who come into this country are good people who are just trying to make a living and are coming to this country for the right reasons.
I think a good way of thinking about immigration is by putting yourself in the immigrants shoes, so to say. Let's take a second to think about this. Let's assume for argument sake that you are living in Mexico and you have done so for your entire life. You are moderately poor and you work hard every day to feed your family and yourself. Now I realize that this isn't a story that is extremely common but some variation on it where your country is incredibly poor and to vastly improve your quality of life all you have to do is walk north. I don't know about you but I think that this is a reasonable decision to make and many of us if not all of us would make a very similar decision. Really I think that these people are very hard working and hold jobs that many of the citizens of this country who say they steal our jobs would never want to hold. I mean they aren't here stealing jobs from the business, medical, or political fields.
As far as health care goes I think that of course immigrants should be afforded treatment. I mean if the United States did not offer healthcare to all peoples in their country I think that it would create a very slippery slope in the fact that when we go overseas we expect to be treated. I think that not offering care to injured people is just ridiculous. But they don't pay taxes right? Yeah but neither do children or congressman does that mean we shouldn't treat them? Now I realize that these two things are not the same but still the principle applies. Immigration definitely needs reform and probably some more oversight. This change will not come overnight and will definitely not be easy but I think that if we educate people about the situation real progress can be made.
I think that health care should be an equal right to everyone who is legally living in this country. Even if they are here on a visa and are not US citizens they should have the right to have health care that is the best that they can afford. Just because they weren’t originally born here doesn’t mean that they should be unable to have health care. I was two years off from being born in Hong Kong but I have lived here forever and I can’t imagine coming back to the states and not having the option of healthcare.
I think every American and every illegal immigrant from anywhere in the world has an equal right to free health care in the USSA. It doesnt matter if you are half way around the world, or you are from right here in the USSA. I dont even care if you are a terrorist. You are human after all. Further, I dont think you even need to work for health insurance. If you dont feel like working, it should be provided for you for free on the sweat of those who do work. Those that are the most wealthy must surrender more of their earnings than any other, and the incentive to prosper must be eliminated. In fact, we need to chase the wealthy and the remainder of the manufacturing industry clean out of the country by imposing more taxes and stricter regulations on production which dont exist in third world countries. Now that we have nationalized health care, we can finally look forward to permanently high unemployment rates as enjoyed in the other modern nations who have adopted nationalized health care plans. Please, everyone, everywhere come get the best healthcare on the planet at no charge. My kid needs a surgery, but just because he is citizen and I pay taxes does not give me any more right to the benefit of the surgery than that of an illegal immigrant who has never paid an American tax in his life. Fair is fair and human is human.
Well it depends on what kind of immigrants we are talking about. Did they come here legally or are they in the country illegally? If they are came here illegally, then no. They do not have the right to government run healthcare. They are working under the counter and not being taxed, and it is the citizens and legal immigrants of the United States that are essentially paying for their health care. Is it the humane thing to do? Probably not. I can not imagine being the doctor or nurse in an emergency room who will have to deny a man or woman help because they can not afford it without health care. This is especially troubling if we are talking about life or death situations. But this comes down to the individual doctor. If he wanted to, he could risk his career to save a man without health care, but I don’t think we should just hand out health care to everyone, legal or illegal, just because they are within our borders. They put an extreme burden on the other taxpayers, and they make no contribution to the running of our government or even the enforcement of our military, local police, National Guard, etc. Yes, they work extremely hard, and in some extreme conditions might I add, but it comes down to nickels and dimes. They don’t pay a cent to the government, and frankly every service in this society has a price. We can not just do everything in this world for free or else most people would lose their motivation to work. Most people do their jobs because it pays the bills. For instance, people don’t clean public bathrooms and empty trash because they love to do it. They do it because it pays the bills. Money makes society work. It gives people a reason to work harder and do jobs they normally wouldn’t want to do. It makes people want to obtain higher levels of education so they can reach that next pay scale and live a more comfortable life. We can just go around doing things for free or else it would just tear the basic structure of our society. Also, I would imagine it to be a big insult to the doctor for instance, if a patient came and ask for his services. This doctor put in years of hard work to learn his trade and spent a fortune to pay for that education. For someone to come in and ask for his services for free is just a big F U to the face. So to summarize, I believe that health care should be a right given to people in the United States, but only to those that pay their taxes. Thus, only native born citizens, and legal immigrants should have that right.
I do no think that illegal immigrants should have access to a government-sponsored healthcare plan because it’s coming out of citizens’ taxes. I think that giving them access to it would be unfair to the people in this country who are not able to receive healthcare. People who are American citizens are sitting in emergency rooms dying because they are not covered, and doctors rather help the people who are covered. I think they should be allowed to live in this country, but they should become actual citizens before they try to receive all of the benefits that we as citizens have. I do believe everyone is entitled to healthcare, but people who do not pay taxes should not get a free ride.
I think we have to look at whether or not the immigrants are legal or not. Healthcare is something that should be available to all people. I don’t think that there are too many sick people that we will face crises on hospitals and doctor’s offices all over the country. I feel have something of an obligation to reach out and help people who come into the country. How would you feel if you walked into a bar and received no service? If you walked into your own home and no one was taking care of you? This is a big question and I think it would be difficult to have the task of deciding who and who doesn’t get healthcare.
I think that healthcare should be available to everyone in certain circumstances. Obviously if someone is gushing blood, a hospital should simply treat them regardless of their legal status. So I think that's a yes in the case of emergencies. Perhaps in other instances that are non-life threatening, the person can be put on a waiting list or something…I know that sounds selfish after I typed it. If I were the immigrant at the hospital, I'd probably get pissed off if I was on a waiting list. It's just that if we as a society start providing all these services free of charge to anyone that walks in the door, people are going to start to get the idea that they don't have to at least try to come here legally. Because they will be able to have all the amenities of a citizen no matter what.
I think every American and every illegal immigrant from anywhere in the world has an equal right to free health care in the USSA. It doesn’t matter if you are half way around the world, or you are from right here in the USSA. I don’t even care if you are a terrorist. You are human after all. Further, I don’t think you even need to work for health insurance. If you don’t feel like working, it should be provided for you for free on the sweat of those who do work. Those that are the most wealthy must surrender more of their earnings than any other, and the incentive to prosper must be eliminated. In fact, we need to chase the wealthy and the remainder of the manufacturing industry clean out of the country by imposing more taxes and stricter regulations on production which don’t exist in third world countries. Now that we have nationalized health care, we can finally look forward to permanently high unemployment rates as enjoyed in the other modern nations who have adopted nationalized health care plans. Please, everyone, everywhere come get the best healthcare on the planet at no charge. My kid needs a surgery, but just because he is citizen and I pay taxes does not give me any more right to the benefit of the surgery than that of an illegal immigrant who has never paid an American tax in his life. Fair is fair and human is human.
All types of insurance are privileges. The liberals love to compare not having health insurance to not having car insurance. Driving is a Privilege! Protection purchased for the privilege of security. Every time the government turns a privilege into a right we lose freedoms. We once had the freedom to plan our retirement as we saw fit. Then there was social security, confiscating our money against our will for the benefit of others and for our own retirement which we are too irresponsible to plan for ourselves. Now this shit. The fucking IRS will actually be authorized to penalize you for not having health insurance that is to the spec of the Obamacare. We need to wake up! Health care isn’t a right for anyone! I don’t want to live in a country in which drivers insurance, food insurance, health insurance, fill in another fear here, are all assured in exchange for 89% of my paycheck. Karl Marx predicted that socialism is an inevitable stage following capitalism, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be stopped if people remember what it takes to remain a free country. The courage to tell your government you don’t need it to coddle you from the cradle to the grave. If people don’t start getting their shit in gear in the voting booths, they’d better start getting used to the United Socialist States of America.
Should healthcare be an equal right for everyone, I take a look at it both ways. Yes it should be a right for everyone, who decided to be god and tell people that that they don’t have the chance to live because they don’t have the money to get help but the resources are available then why not. Health care is fundamental part of life but is it really a right or more of a luxury, in the end people who control healthcare will end up controlling healthcare and if those people are in charge and its their industry then they can actually exclude who ever they want to really. It’s a sad thing to say but that’s the world that we live in.
Health care is a right not a privilege, however, heath insurance is a privilege not a right. Health Insurance is a product purchased by consumers who wish to receive care at a lower cost. I think that the universal healthcare proposal is going to destroy the health insurance industry. Health Insurance is a business based on people buying into the system, and then a pool of money paid by those who are not sick are used to pay for the procedures and treatment of those who are sick. If there are not enough healthy people buying into the system, the company will bankrupt. This is exactly why the government ran health insurance program will not work at all. There will not be enough funds to pay for the care of the patients enrolled in insurance programs. Obama does not get the idea through his head about this. He keeps on saying healthcare needs reform over and over again, but this is not simply the improvement that the industry needs. Our healthcare provided by our doctors and hospitals is the best in the world. There is not a problem with it at all; he is referring to health insurance. Obama doesn’t understand that the health insurance INDUSTRY is a business. The point of a business is to maintain operations costs and still be profitable and able to pay its employees. If the insurance company had to pay out more that it had too, it would not be able to survive at all.
George Bush proposed the idea of a healthcare savings account during his presidency. It would make the patient more of a consumer, and they would have more flexibility in choosing a doctor, hospital, or outpatient facility; because they would be in charge of the funds. It would give the consumer more freedom. I think people should work towards what they have, and the government should not hand everything to them on a silver plate. If government does everything for us, our society would collapse and we would have no reason to work at all. In neighborhoods where the government provides everything for them, they are simply downtrodden, and devastated. People should have the desirability to do everything in their power to better themselves and their families. If you just sit there and let the government do everything for you, people could just sit around all day and do nothing.
Government health insurance is completely wrong. It is providing a privilege to a small fraction of people at the cost of the majority of the country. Most Americans do have health insurance, but there are only 15% of Americans that don’t have it. This bill is going to destroy the health care job market for insurance administration jobs.
I think there are two easy ways to answer this question. First from a human rights perspective, a person is a person and to deny someone access to essentially “health,” then that person’s human rights are being violated. I understand that to some people it seems completely off the wall to offer something that cost money – like health care – to someone who entered this country illegally. But there is a human component here – it is completely unjust to deny someone health care. But from a real worId stand point I also understand this is often not a powerful argument. I mean let’s face it there are many people that do not believe human rights can be extended to rights that require money in order for the right to be delivered.
But from a strict financial stand point, yes definitely extend health care to everyone living in the United States, regardless of their resident status. Because it is illegal to deny someone medical coverage, people who do not have access to primary health care use the emergency room for their health care access. For example, common ailments that go untreated can turn into serious medical problems and that is when people without medical care seek treatment in the emergency rooms. In turn, because they do not have health insurance the hospital bares the cost of their medical care. These costs are then transferred to the patients with insurance, because medical providers need to increase the cost of medical care for insured patients to offset the expense of uninsured patients.
So it’s simple, no one is talking about giving free health care to illegal immigrants, but why not let immigrants buy health insurance? In the end it would be better for all of us. Immigrants are paying into the system and the system is eliminating unnecessary expenses. To me it seems pointless not to allow illegal immigrants to purchase health care when it will benefit the overall health care system. I think the argument not to allow illegal immigrants to purchase health care is simply based on the fact that the people are here illegally, with no other rationale included in the argument.
I understand that people are pissed off people are entering our country illegally, but come on, let’s take a step back and look at the system. Like we talk about in class Thursday, big businesses are controlling immigration and illegal immigrants are here to do the jobs people in the U.S. are unwilling to do. It is also funny how today we criminalize illegal immigration, but when our great-grandparents were doing it immigration was fine and in fact a story of struggle and bravery. But today when people try to make a better life we see them as near criminals. I think if it was our great-grandparents wanting health care we would hope they had access.
Although I believe that illegal immigrants are hard workers. I don’t believe that they should get free government services such as health care. They do need to pay taxes like everybody else so they can get health care and other services. It’s not fair that citizens and legal immigrants have to pay taxes but they are receiving the benefits of it. We do need sometime of change to regulate things and make things fair. I don’t know what type of system the government can come up with but one needs to be made up. They need to start regulating things. The illegal immigrants are basically stealing from those hard workers that do pay their taxes.
I think yes, healthcare should be an equal right, even to immigrants. If they get sick in the United States, sick enough to be taken to the emergency room since they couldn't take preventative measures because they have no primary care physician, the hospital will treat them anyway. That means that we will pay for their treatment, so why shouldn't we have healthcare for all so that we can avoid the suffering before emergency measures had to be taken? I don't know a lot about this subject and I'm sure it would cost more money to insure everyone with healthcare, but if these people are going to be here, I'd rather than run around healthy than run around infecting other people.
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This is a tough question, because it's awful to want a hospital to turn someone away when this person is in need. However, I feel as if ILLEGAL immigrants should not have the advantages actual citizens have. It just wouldn't be fair. I mean, every citizen of the United States must pay taxes, and my biggest issue with illegal immigrants is that since they are, in fact, illegal, and not documented, they neglect to pay taxes. Our taxes pay towards healthcare, and towards other government functions, so I just feel as if they would be completely benifitting from health care services, without ever paying towards these services. Now, I am not going to claim I know anything about what illegal immigrants do for our economy, good or bad, because I don't. I am simply stating the unfairness regarding taxes which illegal immigrants do not pay, obviously, because they are not citizens of the United States on paper.
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phisixfly Reply:
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I totally agree, not only are they not contributing to run the government, they put a burden on the other taxpayers. That is my biggest pet peeve with illegal immigration, which is that they just come in, earn money, possibly take advantage of the government services funded by the tax payer money here and leave again once they earn enough, or stay to continue being a burden to the society. This issue can be immediately fixed if the government would just encourage illegal immigrants to get document and not instill and penalties against them, so that they can, at the least, pay taxes.
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hmc5079 Reply:
April 24th, 2010 at 3:10 am
I agree that illegal immigrants should not have the health care advantages actual citizens of the United States have because it is not fair. Everyone else must pay taxes and therefore pay for them. Its sort of cheating in a way. If you are not paying taxes and are an illegal citizen of the United States and then all of a sudden fall fatally ill, who pays for this? The taxpayers. And on the other side if say, we were to get ill we would have to pay for our operations, medical bills, etc etc. Doesn't seem fair.
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Veggie_man Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 3:39 am
These illegal immigrants have no choice of whether or not they pay taxes, but I’m sure if they had the opportunity to come to the US legal and pay those taxes, they would. The system is set up so these immigrants can be on waiting lists for many years, as the quota of unskilled, legal immigrants is so small. This is, quite frankly, why so many immigrants come to the US illegally—it’s stupid to wait year upon year when the only risk you run, if you come to this country illegally, is deportation.
At any case, they still come here illegally, so they don’t pay income tax (the only tax they pay is on sales tax, which varies state to state and hovers around 7%) and they do take up plenty of our services including using our roads, public transportation, public safety, and pertinent to this discussion, health care, as it is illegal to turn someone away from life-threatening care regardless of immigration status. So for example, if an illegal immigrant goes to a hospital because they are having a heart attack, the hospital must treat the patient, incurring a loss. The hospital then charges those with health insurance more for care as well as billing the government through a program called the ‘uncompensated care program’—tax payers pick up this tab. That being said, it is stupid that we don’t allot these illegal immigrants the same rights as US citizens, in terms of receiving discounts on their health insurance, ability to even get health insurance, etc. if we are already paying for them in a more expensive setting (getting care at a hospital is far more costly than getting care at a doctor’s office). Since the tax payers are footing the bill, if illegal immigrants can afford to purchase health insurance, it’s nonsensical to not give them that right. Plain and simple.
Of course if we actually looked at this issue more broadly, we would see that we need this cheap labor to keep products cheap in the US as well as compete on a global scale. For example, we purchase crops from the US and international market. Without these illegal immigrants, the US agriculture system would foil since we would never be able to compete on the global scale. This goes for many industries including restaurant, clothing, and hospitality. Enforcing immigration laws would foil our economy.
So what we should do is talk less about deporting these immigrants and more about extending unskilled work visa’s. If we did this, we should then enforce anti-immigration laws on businesses that employ workers who do not have these proper visa’s. That way, we can ensure we are receiving tax revenue from these working. Once we have this tax revenue, we would not be subsidies all of these tax payer programs mentioned above such as roads, public safety, healthcare, etc.
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spf5027 Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
They should not be here in the first place at all. I have no problem at all with LEGAL immigration. LEGAL immigration is what this country was founded upon. Illegal immigrants should not have any rights at all except to be treated humanely. They are simply just a burden on our society as a whole. We as a government should allot a certain number of seasonal visas for those who come to pick crops and other things. Allowing them to cross the border illegally is simply just wrong. We need to stop this flow of illegal immigrants to this country. At the least if we allow visas to some of them and control it, we could collect taxes.
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ezf5009 Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
I find your post to be contradictory. Our country was not founded on legal immigration. The founders of the U.S. came and took control of the land; there was nothing legal about it.
I also think it’s pretty contradictory to say illegal immigrants should have no rights expect to be treated humanely. I’m guessing health care would fall under humane treatment? I think the right to health is a pretty basic human right.
As far as illegal immigrants being a burden to society, sure they use public resources that they do not pay for, but read the post above. The U.S. would not be able to compete on a global scale without cheap labor. To say that illegal immigrants are only a burden is simply false.
I like your solution. I agree that we need to document illegal immigrants, but the system isn’t set up to allow low-skill legal immigration. There are many illegal immigrants that would be happy to pay taxes and gain more access to resources – like health care. But the system doesn’t allow low-skill immigrants to come into the U.S. legally.
So yes, let’s change the system so that the low-skilled workers (that our country depends on) have documented citizenship or temporary visa status, but don’t disregard the U.S.’s need for these workers in the process.
I am strong supporter of the new health care bill that has just come out. However, this bill is used to help those who are paying taxes and those who are giving to the United States of America. I don’t think that non-citizens should have health care. I think that they should try to get the necessary funds to pay for their own. Part of being an American citizen is reaping the benefits of the country in which millions serve and owe a great deal to in the U.S. I think that health care for a citizen is a right and a privilege. If we do open this health care up to immigrants I think that there needs to be strict guidelines as well as procedures to follow in order to possibly or potentially provide for their health care.
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Veggie_man Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 3:54 am
Do you realize that we already pay for their health care? When an illegal immigrant goes to the emergency room, it is illegal for the hospital to turn them away because of their immigration status when the disease is life threatening. Many times, the only reason that disease was life threatening was because they failed to get primary care. So for example, if you leave a cavity go untreated, that person will eventually get a bacterial infection which can spread to your blood stream, in turn, to other parts of your body—so effectively you can have a $100 cavity turn into literally a $100,000 open heart surgery + hospital stay. In the end, if the patient cannot pay for the rendered care, the hospital incurs the loss resulting in the hospital charging folks with insurance more money. States also have programs called uncompensated care programs which dole out literally millions of tax payers money yearly.
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Veggie_man Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 3:54 am
That being said, the fact that the Health Care Reform bill, which really should be called insurance reform, doesn’t allow illegal immigrants to even purchase insurance is crazy! Why would we not allow someone to buy health insurance if they can afford the plan without subsidies? Understandably, I see why some people would be against giving these illegal immigrants subsidies(i.e. money from tax payers to buy the plans), because they don’t pay income tax. Though from a strictly economical point of view, it would still be worth it to give these illegal immigrants the subsidies, since we pay for their care already through increases in private insurance costs/uncompensated care programs.
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First, I want to know if you meant illegal immigrants or immigrants. Since my opinion is different concerning this matter on the two. For true immigrants, those who leave their country to permanently reside in another, they are following the rules, settling down, and abiding by the laws of that country (like paying taxes). Just because a person has immigrated does not mean they shouldn’t receive the same rights as those who have been in that country for years. Immigrants are citizens, too. At one point all of our family members were immigrants, and we need to remember that.
Illegal immigrants on the other hand, are not citizens. If you’re asking if illegal immigrants should receive the same rights as citizens concerning health care then no they should not. They do not pay taxes. They may follow most of the laws but are breaking a very important one. I have always been against illegal immigration. I can understand and sympathize with these people. And Sam brought up a great point in class yesterday about business and the free market. Yes they could be providing a great service and boosting our economy, but most of what they’re making is going to their family in a different country. I understand that illegal immigrants for the most part are cheap labor, and are the sole reason to having low prices on fruits, vegetables, and most textiles, but I do not think they should receive health care benefits since they are not citizens.
If illegal immigrants were provided with free health care, do you have any idea what would happen to our borders? They would be swamped as soon as the news hit the television or internet. Our issues with illegal immigration would grow exponentially. As much as I wish we could provide the world with health care, we can’t. And it’s probably true that the people in our country in need of health care are better off than most in other parts of the world. But we can’t do it. Our country is having enough of a problem trying to provide health care to its citizens; we don’t need to add on illegal immigrants.
This has got me thinking about why other countries don’t have the opportunities we do. What makes America so different? If anything, I think our country has little opportunities for immigrants. Sure they may get a job but unfortunately it is not likely that they will move up (as in be promoted to a higher level job) any time soon. I guess in a way I’m trying to understand why other countries can’t make opportunities themselves like the pioneers did for themselves. This country wasn’t always what it is today.
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j0hnnytsunami Reply:
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:29 pm
first off nice definition of Immigrants, but Migrants also people only staying for temporary needs. or people that are illegally coming. it is a very interesting question.
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This is an excellent question and one that really doesn’t have a right answer because it is all based on opinion. In my opinion they should share the majority of our rights such as freedom of speech, press, and religion. However when it comes to health care I tend to stray away from equality however ignorant and pigheaded that is. Our current system is flawed through and through but it is taking care of the majority of Americans. If someone from another country would like to become a citizen I will welcome him or her with open arms and share what I have with them. But if you are telling me my son cannot have an operation because an illegal alien is having the same operation that’s where I draw the line.
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My answer is yes. To me it seems natural that they should be able to be taken care of when they are ill. It seems natural to me that whenever anyone is ill or injured they should be assisted by whatever country they are in or by whatever people are near them. We are all fragile beings and if we do not aid others in their times of need, why should we expect that the system or others will aid us?
I will be the first person to admit that I do not know the economic implications of the different variations of health care plans, but I think that greed is likely to get in the way of what I perceive as a basic human right. So, I will take it a step further and say that not only should immigrants AND illegal immigrants be given access to necessary healthcare, but also visitors in the country. Travelling can be stressful enough without having to worry about what happens if you should get into an accident or some illness should set upon you.
I do understand that this would create more of a burden on hospitals and doctor’s offices, but I think if the efficiency of the health care system could be improved it may be feasible to extend health care to anyone in this country that needs it. I also think that if hospital staff had less responsibility to make sure people had insurance and could pay it would both reduce costs and increase interest for future doctors and nurses.
I watched the movie “Sicko” by Michael Moore because it was assigned for a class called Media and Democracy. While I am well aware that it was a very biased narrative of the issue of health care, I couldn’t help but be impressed when he visited England. I was impressed by the hospital he visited and the patients and health care professionals that he spoke with. He was literally laughed at when asking where people had to go to pay for the care they received in the hospital. The doctors he talked to spoke openly about how they would not want to work in a place where they had to worry about who they were treating and if they had money to pay for the care they received. I am sure there are negatives to the system they have in place there, but it just seemed right to me that they didn’t have to worry about the insurance or financial background of the patients they treated. I think the United States could definitely learn a few lessons from England’s health care system. This sort of turned into a rant about universal health care, but the point is that in my opinion I have no more of a right to good health care than a poor immigrant.
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I think that health care should be an equal right to everyone that is a citizen of the specific country that they live in. So yes, immigrants should have the same right to health care as the country’s citizens, as long as they first make the effort to become citizens. It’s a two-step process. And with so many people immigrating into the United States, I think it’s important to keep this in mind. In order to benefit from the same advantages and freedoms that everyone in our country enjoys, you must first become a citizen. Does it require a little bit of work? Yes, but it’s a necessary filter for the already scarce institution of health care.
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spf5027 Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Health care is already a right. Anyone can go into an emergency room and receive treatment. It is health insurance that is a privilege to us. We purchase things because they are privileges, and that not everyone can afford them. Health insurance is like this. If we gave everyone health insurance our system would go bankrupt. We have the best healthcare system in the world. It’s not our delivery system that needs to change, its how we provide insurance. It should be provided at a lower cost if anything. The government should not give it to people like it’s a freebie
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Yes I think health care should be a equal rights between everyone, Especially for the legal immigrants because that would not be fair to them. Everyone gets sick or injured sometime during their lives and they should have the right to see a doctor and get taken care of. I think whenever a person is denied a doctor or for care that is murder, and doctors job is to help people and save lives, that like contradicting what they believe in and all the education they receive. And for what? So they can tell someone they can't help them because they don't have health care. Plus, think of it this way, what if an immigrant (legal or illegal) becomes very ill with a sickness that is extremely contagious and they go to the doctor to seek help and to be cure before the disease or sickness gets out of control and spread throughout the body. Then they get to the doctor and finds out that there is nothing that can be done to help this person, so they send this person back home, either in a cab, or they get on the buses and trains to get home, surrounding themselves with people who are healthy and not sick. Because this one person cannot get treatment for his sickness he is likely to spread his contagious disease to innocent healthy people, (citizens or not, with healthcare or not). Putting more families in debt and in danger of spreading this disease as well, when all of this could have been avoided in the beginning. And because of this, doctors will become over worked and probably underpaid, and getting less sleep at night or probably not sleeping at all, which could lead to them making a mistake on another patient because their bodies are not functioning right because of lack of rest.
And what about innocent babies and children that, they do not understand how not to get sick and to avoid catching a disease, so does that mean they should be denied to and not help! I would like to know where is the sympathy, especially in America "all men are create equal". If I were a person who determine who gets health care and who don't I would feel extremely terrible knowing that everyone don't have the same rights especially for something that is between life or death because this is exactly what this between "life and death" because people have died because of lack of health care and people will continue to die if something is not done about this. The people in control really need to think about their actions and really put people's lives and family members into consideration because this is not cool.
I think that in poorer countries, where they have limited health care for the people who was already born and raised there should come up with a system that distribute the health care so only when someone becomes very ill and really need to see a doctor and can seek help. I don't know that was just and idea. But this is a really hard topic to discuss because this is so important to people and their lives and their children lives and so forth. I just feel like this is our world and we all need to come together and work out a system they will allow for people to have some sort of health care and not have to worry about if they will die and how they are going to pay back loans and bills for something that should already be given to them.
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I think that everyone who is a citizen of our country deserves health care. So my answer would in part be yes. However, illegal immigrants who do not pay taxes which would fund health care, do not deserve to be protected by health care that is funded by taxpayers. If we let illegal immigrants do this (get free health care without paying taxes) it would be an absolute drain on our economy. In reality, this does happen though. Immigrants get over the border every day, and they end up in the United States. Then, they get sick, and they need health care. It’s a cycle that drains on the economy.
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Okay, I just want to make something clear for people, because American citizen,seem to be very confused about this whole illegal immigrant and citizen thing. Most people whom I meet are appalled when I tell them that I'm not a citizen. There are three different statuses one can have. You can be an illegal immigrant, a resident, or a citizen. An illegal immigrant is one who is undocumented and not on the books, we do not have record of these people living among us. A resident is one who has migrated from another country, is documented, pays taxes, but just doesn't want to be claimed by the U.S. because either they want to continue honoring their country or it's not in their interest. Third of all, you can be a U.S. citizen, one who pays taxes, is looked for in foreign countries if some kind of disaster happens and was born on U.S soil or went through the naturalization process.
It really ticks me off when people assume I'm illegal because I'm not a citizen, it's not an if this than that situation so do research and be more informed of your own government policies. And I believe all those who are documented in the U.S. should benefit from the Health Care Reform because we are all paying an equal price for it. Those who are not documented should be given residency which is not citizenship. That way these people can help pay for the Health Care Reform and contribute to the U.S. economy more effectively. People may think that people choose to stay illegal to avoid paying taxes but most of the people I've met are not documented because the government denies them the right and because they don't have the money because they are paid minimum wage by companies who exploit them.
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Wow this is a great question and after reading the multiple responses posted by obviously ill informed and close-minded individuals I felt like I definitely had to respond to this issue. The responses that really got me upset were from those people saying that immigrants should not be given the same healthcare as citizens. Are you people dumb or just plain ignorant? God this just makes me so mad at the people in this class. Maybe its just some people who feel this way, but that is definitely more people than I thought would be so ill informed. Im an immigrant myself and have healthcare provided to me. My whole family also just recently got healthcare. I did not have healthcare provided by the government until my mom got married to a United States citizen. When I got sick we couldn't afford to go to the doctor. When my grandmother had cancer we had to pay cash while my mom was a single parent in college and working at the same time. We barely got enough money for my grandma to get the operation. If we didn't get her the operation she would have died and it would be the fault of ignorant people like you! We are not illegal immigrants. We came here for a better life and work extremely hard for everything we have. When you ignorant people declare that we don't deserve the same rights because we are not citizens it is just ridiculous. There are many different reasons for why some individuals cannot become citizens. Coming from Russia it makes it that much more difficult. Half of my family is in Russia and my uncle is a general in the Russian military. If the military found out that his whole family(us) became citizens they may renounce him from his position. There are other reasons as well but this is a major one. So before you make stupid remarks you should all get educated about the matter.
Also I don't understand why the majority of you think of immigrants as "pear picking, uneducated losers". Are you serious ???!!!! Because most of the doctors, lawyers, and business people I know are immigrants. The people who are providing healthcare for you are themselves immigrants! If it wasn't for them your asses would be sick or worse dead! Wow sorry for the rant but I am just so freaken mad right now!!!! Immigrants are very smart, work hard, and deserve the same rights as you natural born citizens. My family and I are permanent residents of the United States and reside here completely legally. We deserve the same benefits of this country as you do. Do you not realize that your families were also immigrants. They were offered healthcare when they came here weren't they? So now that you are citizens you have the audacity to declare who should and should not be offered healthcare. I don't think so! Those of you who don't agree, I don't care because I know I am speaking for all immigrants when I tell you off. If god forbid in the future immigrants are prevented from receiving healthcare, the blood of millions of people will be on your hands. Im done with my rant, its ultimately up to you to get educated or continue to be ignorant baboons!
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I think it depends on the situation. In my opinion, the most reasonable healthcare system would have “socialized” or “universal” (depending on what political party you are) for large scale, life threatening procedures while the day-to-day stuff should get covered by the private stuff. I think that would alleviate a lot of the downsides to either system done by themselves. I think this is exactly what should be done with illegals. I don't feel the need to burden the taxpayers with an illegal's nonemergency care, but are you really going to turn someone away and let them die because they can't afford the are?
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I believe that health care should be an equal right to everyone. What gives people in the U.S. the right to decide that some group of individuals doesn’t deserve the right of health care? We could be sentencing some of these immigrants to death if they can’t afford health care on their own and we don’t offer it to them. I know that it would create a bigger burden on hospitals and the government if they have to support illegal immigrants but if they tried hard enough I’m sure illegal immigrants would find a way around the system anyway so we might as well just give everyone health care from the beginning.
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The new healthcare system should be open to U.S. residents and citizens. Why should people who are here illegally benefit from the same things as legal people living in the U.S.? I understand that most of these people come to the U.S. to have a chance at a better life and that they are often escaping oppression, wars, famine, and other problems in their country, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and sneaking into the country illegally is definitely the wrong way. If illegal immigrants can receive the same things as U.S. citizens then what would motivate anyone else to become residents or citizens?
A lot of people go through a lot of trouble and hardships to become legal citizens or become legal residents and they do it so that they can receive all of the benefits that this country has to offer, but if there are other people coming into the country through illegal means, what's the point? If people know that they can come in and get healthcare without having to do the paperwork and the other things, I guarantee we will see a huge increase in illegal immigration in the next few years.
I don't want people to get confused with what I'm saying. I don't have anything against illegal immigrants. They do a lot for our country's agricultural economy as far as increasing the amount of produce that is available to send to market. A lot of people complain that they are taking money away from Americans that could use the jobs, but do you really think that companies didn't initially try to give those jobs to Americans? We're a proud group of people and there are a lot of jobs that we won't do. It seems that working out in the sun all day picking fruit is one of those things that people aren't willing to do. That seems more like a work ethic problem in citizens than it sounds like an illegal immigration problem.
If they want to be here and are going to be productive members of society, then I don't really have an issue with them. I just think there needs to be some limitations as far as the things they can take part in while living here under an illegal status, and healthcare is one of those things. It may sound selfish to want them to work here to benefit our economy, but not help them if they're injured or sick, but I promise you that is not my intent. I just believe that some things need to remain options for only legal residents and citizens.
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First of all this is a very poorly worded question. Whoever you are that said this is a moron. Immigrants and illegal aliens(immigrants) are two completely different things. Immigrants who immigrate to the United States legally and become CITIZENS should have the same rights as any other citizen. This only makes sense if you think about it logically. If I moved from Canada to the united states at the age of 2 and became a citizen, why would I not have the same legal rights as anyone else? There are three basic immigrant statuses that you fall into when living in America. The first one is an illegal immigrant. This is an illegal occupation without documentation. This is for the people who supposed run across the border and find themselves in the southern u.s. The next status is legal resident. This is not considered and American citizen. Legal residents have immigrated legally and chose to reside in the U.S. They can be anybody and hold any occupation except president of the U.S. Becoming a legal resident is part of the process that enables you to become an American citizen. So often times legal residents are either people who chose to live here and still hold their original citizen ship to their birth country, or people who are in the process of becoming American citizens. The last status is citizen. This is for all the people born in American who are citizens by nationality. This is also for people who have immigrated into the United States and gone through the process of becoming citizens. I think that any legal American citizen should receive equal treatment and healthcare. Healthcare should be a right for American citizens. The government should be one to take care of its people instead of consistently ripping off the American public with private healthcare. I don’t exactly know how I feel about saying that illegal aliens shouldn’t receive healthcare. I do agree that it is not fair for people to benefit from healthcare without having put money into it because they are illegals. It isn’t fair yet it also isn’t right to throw those people out on the street. They are not criminals and usually aren’t the ones disturbing the peace. Most of the illegal immigrants who cross into the united states are hard working people that fill up the jobs that most Americans do not want to do. They themselves are looking for a better life, they aren’t looking to come to the U.S. and rip off the Americans in their health care and emergency facilities. They are looking to better their lives, and im sure if they could come here legally they would. Not everybody has the luxury of being born into money or able to payoff every expense they need. Second, this kids soc class was working on whether immigration should receive the same healthcare benefits as citizens for a whole week? Immigrants are large contributers to this countrys economy, and don’t forget who started the united states anyways, immigrants.
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I think that if the immigrants in question are illegal that they definitely should not be entitled to health care in our country. There are so many issues with health care in our country already and there are astronomical costs associated with the type of care that our country provides. I think that there are also issues with this because if our country had a different type of health care such as a national health care program, my thinking might be different. I do believe that everyone in this country should be entitled to access to our healthcare system and although there are steps being implemented currently to make sure that more people in our country have access to the medical care they need. I am a health policy major so we talk about this issue all the time. The costs alone are enough to say that we should not allow illegal immigrants to use our healthcare system but at the same time we have a law that if someone comes into the emergency room we need to treat them regardless of whether the person has insurance or not. I guess it doesnt matter who is coming in or not because there are so many people in this country that are American citizens and do not have health insurance yet they get treated when they come to the hospital so essentially it could be viewed as the same thing.This is an argument that prompts many people to discuss the positives associated with a public health system in the United States. The people that pay taxes in this country are the ones that have to take care of these costs and because of all of the people in our country that do not have insurance their taxes are raising. This issue also falls into the category of education. Children of illegal immigrants have access to the public school system because it is technically not their fault that they are here illegally and it is our duty to educate them. This is such a grey issue and I dont know if it will ever be black and white. As someone who believes that everyone should have access to healthcare in America, it is hard for me to say that I dont think we should give illegal immigrants health care. I think that there should be some sort of provision put in place to take care of people who are illegal immigrants so that costs do not go up for the people in this country that do pay will not have to pay more.
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This question really hits home for me because I am an immigrant and the reason that my family came to this country was because my little brother was sick. My little brother was born with hydrocephalus, which is a condition where liquid is stored in the brain and if not treated can be fatal. In Mexico there is no healthcare and to be able to save my little brother it was going to cost us a lot of money, which we did not have. Therefore, since my dad was already working in the US, we decided to come live with him so my brother could the proper healthcare that he needed. We had heard that the US had a wonderful healthcare. My brother underwent two surgeries and thankfully he is alright now. I am thankful everyday that my parents made this decision to come to the US. I know that there are many immigrant kids that wouldn’t have been so lucky to receive care like my brother did. So yes why can’t healthcare be equal for everyone? Don’t we all deserve the right to live? Would the doctors just let kids in need sick and have in their conscious that they could’ve done something about it? I feel very strongly about this issue not only because of my little brother, but for all the kids that are in need of healthcare but can’t because their immigrants. There need to be something done about this because I don’t think that denying a child health is morally right. Therefore, I am here at Penn State looking to major in the health field to maybe one day help all these kids in need. I am not saying that only kids should get healthcare, I think we all should have healthcare, but especially kids. The US is known to give people equal opportunities so why should healthcare be any different? People need to understand the seriousness of denying people healthcare. I am grateful for Obama’s health care reform because now many people will be able to afford quality healthcare. I am especially grateful for the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act because millions of kids will be provided with health insurance they didn’t; preciously have. Immigrants that come to this country to work and better their lives have the same rights to have these privileges as anyone else. As far as illegal immigrants and legal ones, I do agree that people should pay taxes to go towards healthcare, so equal rights should be towards legal immigrants because its only fair.
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Drawing the lines to designate the respective parameters of health care is a daunting and near impossible task. Who deserves it? Who needs it? Who will get the best? It is all very difficult to assess. I think the major problem is being able to say no to someone that may potentially have a serious illness. No one wants to be the person that has to do that, but if we approach health care with a “no illegals” attitude, someone will ultimately have to fill this role. On the other hand, allowing these illegal immigrants to consume our resources and drive up health care costs with unpaid for procedures is completely unacceptable and detrimental to the economy. Clearly there is quite a debate at hand.
My personal position is on the side of a “no illegals” approach. I do not feel that millions of illegal immigrants have the right to our use resources and drive up our costs when they have demonstrated no concrete affiliation with out government and our system of operations. Unpaid for visits to the ER exponentially drive up costs and under the current rules and guidelines for hospitals, they simply can’t refute care. I don’t want to make it seem like you have to have money to receive health care, but you have to at least be accounted for. I don’t think the answer is completely refusing care for these people, but strict regulations and protocols undoubtedly need to be put in place.
I have no problem with legal immigrants, and actually have several in my family who simply choose not to become citizens. That is completely fine and completely acceptable because, as Sam mentioned, it is documented. The problems arise when there are millions upon millions of people who are undocumented and unaccounted for, using resources. It is not hard to see why this presents a problem. However I am not a fan of kicking the illegal immigrants who are already here out of the country as many people suggest. I believe that we should grant the illegal immigrants who are already here citizenship in exchange for their abidance by our laws (ie paying taxes, etc). I don’t think this is too much to ask for, and I feel that it addresses the major problems the illegal immigrants are causing.
I would also like to point out that this type of debate (“who deserve health care”) is not only a problem with illegal immigrants. Just to show what a mess our health care system is, not only do we have millions of unaccounted for individuals but we also have millions of individuals without health insurance. Even though these people are indeed legal, the fact that they don’t have health insurance puts them in a similar boat with the illegals, making health care a quite expensive aspect of our lives. But perhaps this is another discussion…
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I am torn up about this subject. I am fortunate enough to have always had healthcare and never had to worry about if I could afford to see the doctor. I do think there needs to be some sort of self responsibility. For example, I worked very hard through college to be able to find a job this summer and my company will pay for my healthcare. My parents also work hard for their healthcare benefits. I realize there are people who are not as fortunate as myself, but I do not think that it should be given out for free.
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My answer to this question is a simple one. Absolutely they should have rights to health care in the United States, regardless of whether they are "illegal" or not. Health care is a human right, not a privilege, not a gift, a right. When we are sick, we have the right to health. We have the right to curing our illness and continuing to live our lives. Your status as an immigrant in this country has no place in determining the level of health care you can receive. For the people who want to dictate this decision based on "paying taxes," I want to ask all of you to put yourself in the other person's shoes. You are from a country that has little opportunity to offer, a poor health care system, and doesn't meet what your are looking for in life. So what would you do? You would immigrate to a new country, regardless of what it took. If that meant doing so illegally, you would do it too. So, upon your arrival, you become sick with a curable illness, would you not want to be taken care of? You are damn right you would. You would hope that people in that nation would show some compassion to you, help your family out, and allow you to continue working towards success. We place so much emphasis on money and the "burden" it places on us that we forget to look at our neighbors as humans. Life is about happiness, not money. In order to have life, you have to be taken care of, you have to be healthy. I know that, at least for me, I have no problem paying more taxes if it means that I can help save somebodies life. I would hope they would do the same for me. There are a plethora of reasons why people have to stay "illegal" too. It isn't that they are lazy or like "skirting" the law, there are family relationships that could be in danger and the process itself I would imagine is extraordinarily expensive to go through. So for someone who doesn't want their family to be in danger, or can't find the means to become a "legal tax paying whatever," staying "illegal" is their only choice. There is no way we can't provide them the care they need. Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't try to take steps to becoming a legal immigrant, we just need to understand it isn't always as clear cut as we want to think it is. Like everything else in life, its messy. Lastly, I want to address the terminology "illegal immigrant." I hate it. People can't be illegal, there is no such thing as an illegal person. Their actions may be illegal, but when we refer to them as illegal immigrants I feel we are denoting that person as being "illegal.' I just feel we need to be more sensitive to the issues that drive all of us in life. The pursuit of life and happiness. We should extend health care to illegal immigrants because they have a right to it, just like all of us do.
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People who were not born in this country are no different than people who were born in this country. We all share the same basic functions and the same species name. Taking care of and looking after one another is one of the most fundamental survival tactics of any species. The fact that we all don't share the same level of care (in terms of health, income, access to food/water) seems really wrong to me. In an ideal world, we would all be accepted as members of humanity and we would all receive the same level of health care. Sadly this is not the case, and even people who are citizens of a country, myself included, still are not covered in terms of health care. The technology that countless members of our society use to try and find cures to new health ailments, and even those that study to become nurses and doctors that simply help save lives day after day in a hospital should share their gifts of assisting human life with all of humanity. When a natural disaster occurs (such as Haiti) many American doctors flocked to the nation in trouble to assist as much as they can. In places in Africa or Central America where poverty stricken nations are losing their populations due to malnutrition, inadequate sources of water and shelter, it makes me wonder why more people don't leave and help?
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Well, there are some immigrants who gain US citizenship upon coming to this country— so yes, I think they deserve the same health care privileges as US born citizens, because we are all citizens of the country and should obtain the same rights. If you mean illegal immigrants, then that’s a different story. I’m not really sure. I feel like if they were in a bad situation, health wise, and they absolutely needed help, are you really just going to let the person be hurt or even die? Although, at the same time if they are illegally coming into the country and seeking better health care than their country, it might not be right. That’s a tough question to answer.
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This is a great question and no doubt if the government can afford it they should give health care to immigrants as well as of course citizens of this country. But the government’s first preference and right now their focus should be on helping the citizens of this country out first, since they deserve it the most. The citizens of this country have supported this country the most, and for the longest time so they deserve to have more treatment, that doesn’t mean that if you are an immigrant you should be treated differently. The point I am trying to make is a citizen of a country deserves first preference and more attention because they are the reason our country is where it is. The health care plan is going to help a lot of people in need, and I feel the people who probably need it the most are the immigrants because they usually are working jobs that don’t pay a lot and are the people who are getting the low end of benefits from a country. Also if an illegal immigrant wants to receive health care, I think they should get it as long he or she is paying their taxes, though they are illegal they still play a big role in our economy, and country. So if they can pay taxes then why can’t they also receive health care, but this should not be the governments first concern it should be to help the citizens, and then worry about the immigrants.
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I believe that illegal immigrants should not have the right to healthcare coverage, however, in the case of life or death anybody should receive the immediate care that they need in order to live. On one hand, it seems very financially unrealistic to provide healthcare for anybody that enters our country, because technically this could mean anybody on Earth. It is just unreasonable to think that the United States government can afford to take on the financial responsibility to provide health care for all people including immigrants. Even citizens of the United States are not guaranteed health care, so we must first provide health care to actual citizens and legal immigrants before we can even consider guaranteeing health care for illegal immigrants. By establishing a stipulation that can be easily determined such as “life or death” might be hard on the medical side of this issue. However, I believe that it is just plain unethical for our country to deny somebody the right to health services that can save their life. I would foresee my idea causing trouble in the system, because people would argue that “quality of life” that is on the downward slope for somebody might lead to essentially a life or death operation. However, I still believe that it is our responsibility as citizens of the United States to stand by our belief that “all people are created equal.” I also would argue that our country has made decisions to provide military services to help people in other countries, so how is that much different than helping save the lives of people on our own land.
There are other issues to consider when taking this topic into consideration. When I look at the other side of things I think about issues like, what if illegal immigrants carrying in diseases or illnesses that could be spread to masses of people if not treated? What do we do in that situation? Or what about illegitimate marriages in order to gain citizenship and healthcare? We need to consider what ethics come into concern and what ways in which people may do things to get around laws. We do not want a government or system that encourages people to make bad decisions in order gain access to health care, and in many ways that is the environment of the health care industry in the United States today. The other thing I keep thinking about is wouldn’t it turn in all of the illegal immigrants because all health care needs to be thoroughly documents. How would they set up a system in which health care would be provided without alluding to the fact that someone was an illegal immigrant? This is an issue with many sides to address and will be a very complicated topic to resolve.
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I think that everyone should be offered healthcare, regardless of your social status. Some people may be really hard workers and have a job that doesn’t supply healthcare. Today it is even harder because things cost a lot more, and if you have three kids you will want to have healthcare to take care of them. Sometimes families really struggle and even if you work really hard just to take care of your family and supply food and everything you possibly want to. I think healthcare should be offered to everyone that at least tries but they are just struggling, and anyone who really needs it.
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I definitely think so. Like the previous post, I agree that it should be offered regardless of social status or class. Health-care is so important and should be considered a basic human right. I don't understand why so many people think otherwise. I think immigrants deserve to be treated for their ailment just as much as the next guy, maybe even more, because they can't afford to pay for the medical bills. Immigrants have such a hard time in this country as it is and deserve to be fairly treated in the health-care system just like the rest of us.
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I'm so excited that healthcare here is changing now, because now people who are gay or lesbian identified can finally visit their partners in the hospital. Imagine being denied the right to sit and hold your loved ones hand, because in the eyes of the Government you both aren't really together. Imagine not being able to give that last hug goodbye or say those last words because you are gay and it doesn't count that you have a "union." Now, these people finally have a small portion of what they have been searching for. We are taking big strides in this country towards equality and I can't see what else is to come.
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Healthcare is a completely different issue and it is just really difficult to combine the two issues and come up with a resolution. I mean, damn, I wish car insurance could just be given to me. Oh and life/home insurance… that'd be nice. So everyone can just have equal rights to everything regardless of how they worked in their life, or what roads they took to be successful. Maybe college should be free too, because everyone deserves an education. You know.. everyone deserves food, so why don't we make that free too. We should just be offered all these things because we deserve them. So lets just completely socialize our country. And we can work, and just not make any money, because all of it can go to these things that we deserve because of our basic human rights. I probably shouldn't even post on this because I obviously don't agree with this stuff to begin with. I mean, yeah in a perfect world everyone would get everything they need just because they are citizens or human or whatever. But our worlds' not perfect. We live in society based upon money, as annoying as it is. Combining these two issues is just way too complicated because neither of them have a perfect solution.
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It is kind of difficult to respond to a video when the subject does not understand the question he is proposing. He says "immigrants" but does not actually specify the most important part of the issue. He says "should health Care be an equal right to everyone" well no probably. The issue of health care being an equal right to every body is a hard debate even without incorporating people who are not citizens of this country legally. The best example of how health care should be handled I feel comes from John Mackey the president of Whole Foods. I worked at Whole Foods it is the most friendly business when dealing with a local farmer and helping them and with trying to get affordable great organic foods to the consumer who desires them. What he wonders is why anyone expects to get health care at anything other than the cost currently provided for the CITIZENS of this country. The reason he proposes this is because other than water there is no other resource in our Nation provided to the citizens for virtually no cost. There is no tax that goes towards collecting money for people who can not feed their families, because simply, that's just not how thing work. Providing health care to everyone provides to many complications and really makes no sense because unlike food's desirability, people desire health care consistently on how they treat their bodies. I wonder what these people think providing health care to everyone is going to do to the desirability of being a doctor. Why would anyone want to go to medial school and work their ass off and maximize their intelligence to get paid like a state employee. It makes no sense, in order to have the best and brightest in the medical field there needs to be an incentive for the best and brightest to be there. Ignoring the fact that the gentleman in the video just blankly threw out the idea of health care for everyone. There is no reason to provide compensation for anyone who enters the country illegally. I think everyone who does enter this country illegal is fortunate, and that's great but they are not citizens and that's what it comes down to. I know people argue that this nation was built upon letting in everyone, but that really is not applicable today because we're not some rag tag collection of poor and exiled, we are the most powerful nation on earth. You do not become the most powerful nation on the planet by giving out hand outs or sharing the wealth, this nation is built on rewarding the people who work to the top and allwoing them to spend their resources on health care to preserve their legacy.
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Yes, everyone deserves an equal right to health care, your right to being treated when ill should never be based on wealth or which cover you possess. Every life is of equal value, thus every person is entitled to be treated. The USA is the only developed democracy in the world without free public health care, is this not a clear hint that a private system is flawed. A society that can turn someone away from a hospital with their life at risk, based purely on their inability to gain a insurance policy, whether its due to being an immigrant or from being financially unstable, is one that should be ashamed, and doing anything possible to instigate change.
An immigrant is as much a citizen as someone born within the country, and thus deserves the same right to Health care. It is immoral and inhumane to use someones status within a community as justification to exclude them from receiving care. It is everyone right as a human to be treated when needs be. I struggle to see how some of these posts can argue that immigrants are less deserving than American citizens, simply because they were not born in the country. I could understand illegal immigrants maybe not having as exclusive access to health care when it is for minor issues such as the common cold, however, when it is anything serious no questions need to be asked. How can anyone argue that a life is not as important based on social status. It is the governments obligation to ensure that anyone within their land has that opportunity to be treated regardless of any determining factors.
I know this is a very divisive subject that splits opinion, but I feel it is a moral duty to offer no selectivity when a life is at risk. One person argued he would be livid if an illegal immigrant got an operation before his son, I can see the argument here, but it comes down to the fact that the illegal immigrants life decision previous to this event should have no bearing on his place in the queue for a life changing operation. Everyone should be dealt with as soon as possible, no system is perfect, but one that selects who 'deserves' treatment based on wealth and status, is as far from perfect as its possible to get.
Furthermore, when people argue that by being illegal, they chose to lose access to health care, they must clearly ignore the fact that many illegal immigrant children are not here out of their own personal choice. Equality is not always possible or attainable but when it comes to health care, equality can be sought at all costs, nothing is more important as a basis human right than the right to being treated when life i at risk.
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I think that health care should be extended to all citizens and immigrants as long as they are paying equal taxes in our country. I think that as long as they are paying what we are paying for the services, then why would we take away their right to have a health care plan that they can rely on. Everybody wants to stay healthy and they want their family to be safe, so how could we deny them the rights of health care if they are paying taxes just like the rest of us? However, if they are illegal immigrants and are not paying taxes, I think that they shouldn’t receive health care because we are paying for their care when they are not paying any taxes.
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This seems to be a very hard question initially asked however when you think about it, it really is not. Yes, all people should be given equal and comprehensive care in hospitals and medical centers. It will be a difficult task but it is possible, many countries have this established. When we visit their countries and become ill we receive medical attention with little to no cost. When they come to visit us, they better hope to never become ill because unfortunately we are not nearly as welcoming and friendly. Our hospitals are a lot more chaotic but what do you expect when our medical system is driven more by money than by the goal to help the people.
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Why is this even a question? I feel that not allowing immigrants to receive health care is totally bizarre. If they came to this country legally then why would they not receive some type of health care just like everyone else? It would be extreme racism and disrespect if we did not allow immigrants to receive health care. They are people too and if they come to the United States they are most likely trying to receive better opportunities. I feel that this is kind of a stupid question and pretty immature. Denying health care to immigrants is a horrible idea to me.
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All people should be entitled to receive proper health care. A hospital has no right to deny anyone service because they are an immigrant. Just because an individual is an immigrant does not eliminated from the human race. Yes they are still homo sapiens just like the rest of the population and should be given equal opportunity to get medical assistance. Who are we to let another person of the human race to suffer from illness just because they they not begin their lives in this country? That is ridiculous. Who is it hurting for them to receive health care? Sure there are some tax dollars but for the amount of labor they do, at least they deserve it. Even if they were not hardworking, they still should get granted health care because it should be another humans decision on whether another human should live or die. That is basically the point. And its funny because if we go over to other countries and get sick we would expect to be treated immediately. Right? Do unto others as you want done to you!
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Yes health care should be for everyone even immigrants, because I believe that if someone is sick and they need health care they should be taken care of. I feel that there could be limitations put on the amount of “free” healthcare that they receive but they should be able to receive it. Also because if you deny health care to immigrants then you would be denying it to the poor because most illegal immigrants are poor or close to poverty, also we let them in our country when we need them so shouldn’t we at least make sure they are healthy?
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I am not the most knowledgeable about health care and the new health care bill that came out. But, I do not necessarily think that non-citizens should be reaping the benefits that tax paying citizens also receive. I think that if you are living in the United State illegally, you should work hard to be able to become a citizen and get health care. However, I hate to say that, because I do not like to think about people in our country living without health care. We are indeed the “land of opportunity” aren’t we? This is a pretty tough question, but in the end, I think that it only fair for the tax paying citizens to receive health care.
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To start, I am operating under the assumption that this question regards a hypothetical government run insurance program since, if they have the money, there is certainly some insurance company that would offer coverage. That being said, my instinctual reaction to the question of whether illegal immigrants should have public health care is to say absolutely not. Public programs are privileges of the citizens. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for public programs since they do not pay taxes. This would not even be a matter for debate if we were discussing the very-in-the-red social security system, but people tend to get soft when discussing health care. I understand the desire for a better life and the desire for upward mobility that immigrants crave but the fact remains that if they do not pay taxes they are simply a drain on the government, whose role it is to act on behalf of its citizenry. However, there is another issue to account for. Part of the reason the government is mandating health care is that it becomes more of a burden on tax payers to cover the costs of treatments for those who cannot afford coverage. Since hospitals are required to treat the seriously ill regardless of ability to pay, the bill is often pushed upon those who have a means of payment. Imagine an illegal immigrant enters an emergency room having a heart attack. Since he/she will not be turned away he/she will receive treatment that may include open heart surgery, days of recovery, not to mention the time of many doctors. The cost for such a treatment could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that will be paid by tax payers in order to keep the hospitals solvent. It seems, then, that we are footing the bill for immigrants whether we like it or not, so why not provide some sort of insurance to mitigate the liability?
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I believe that you have to experience immigration, as I have, to have a slight right of judgment. Unfortunately, we cannot choose where to be born. Some countries have endless wars and some do not have enough colleges to educate half their population. Some do not have enough jobs and some have less freedom than they would in an American prison. The United States is full of resources, power and opportunities. It has endless jobs and a valued economy. Immigrants simply move to the United States of America to have a better life and earn a better way of living. I believe that people should have the freedom to immigrate to the United States because they help the economy and deserve the same opportunities as those born in the United States. .
A frequent dispute among those opposing further immigration is that immigrants seize U.S. jobs that are needed by American citizens. Surprisingly, many argue that immigrants are ruining the economy by taking such jobs for lower wages than Americans would. But most immigrants fill low skill jobs that are not wanted by Americans, jobs that are looked down upon. Immigrants do what they can to survive and help their families, and by doing so they help the economy in a many ways. More workers means more output. Julian L. Simon, author of The Economic Consequences of Immigration, states, “Immigration does not exacerbate unemployment … Immigrants not only take jobs, but also create them. Their purchases increase the demand for labor, leading to new hires roughly equal in number to the immigrant workers.” More people means more consumers spending money on food, rent, and a range of necessities and luxuries that spur production and create jobs elsewhere. Opponents of immigration fail to recognize these secondary effects of immigrant employment. They focus only on the original taking of jobs without accounting for job creation and economic growth. If these factors are taken into account, it becomes clear that immigrants actually inject much-needed support and vigor into the economy. If the United States is having economy trouble than they should look elsewhere before they blame immigrants.
Currently, the government is spending $8 billion per month on the continuing occupation of Iraq (www.speaker.gov). Immigrants, legal or not, do not harm the economy in any way, they improve it. There are many immigrants who successfully graduate college and pursue a career. There are many immigrants who agree to work really hard for such a little money to feed their family. And most importantly, there are many immigrants who would work day and night to save money for their kids to go to college, so they can achieve what their parents could not. The economy is corrupted by many things and immigration is not one of them. According to office of national drug control budget records, The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars on the war on drugs while the state spends another $30 million.(www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov) Fixing the economy does not have to mean killing more people at the Mexican border, we just simply need to have more rational actions. Immigrants take the low skill jobs that pay low wages. They pay taxes, rent houses, buy car insurance and groceries just like everyone else. How can they possibly hurt the economy? Some might argue that immigrant workers might raise American taxes using welfare and other programs to help them financially. But it is the fact that Americans also pay hundreds of dollars to support war, which always puzzles me, who would rather choose to support killing people instead of helping others start a life?
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What a sticky situation to be in. I feel like immigration is such a difficult topic to talk about. But I do think that it is impossible for a country who is founded on immigration to take a stance that is against immigration. Immigration is fundamental to our economy. I think when people hear the word immigration they automatically think of illegal's crossing the border to our south and forget about the other kinds of immigration. I think immigration is one of the least understood concepts because as with everything, there are a few people who cross the line and ruin everything. Because really the majority of people who come into this country are good people who are just trying to make a living and are coming to this country for the right reasons.
I think a good way of thinking about immigration is by putting yourself in the immigrants shoes, so to say. Let's take a second to think about this. Let's assume for argument sake that you are living in Mexico and you have done so for your entire life. You are moderately poor and you work hard every day to feed your family and yourself. Now I realize that this isn't a story that is extremely common but some variation on it where your country is incredibly poor and to vastly improve your quality of life all you have to do is walk north. I don't know about you but I think that this is a reasonable decision to make and many of us if not all of us would make a very similar decision. Really I think that these people are very hard working and hold jobs that many of the citizens of this country who say they steal our jobs would never want to hold. I mean they aren't here stealing jobs from the business, medical, or political fields.
As far as health care goes I think that of course immigrants should be afforded treatment. I mean if the United States did not offer healthcare to all peoples in their country I think that it would create a very slippery slope in the fact that when we go overseas we expect to be treated. I think that not offering care to injured people is just ridiculous. But they don't pay taxes right? Yeah but neither do children or congressman does that mean we shouldn't treat them? Now I realize that these two things are not the same but still the principle applies. Immigration definitely needs reform and probably some more oversight. This change will not come overnight and will definitely not be easy but I think that if we educate people about the situation real progress can be made.
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I think that health care should be an equal right to everyone who is legally living in this country. Even if they are here on a visa and are not US citizens they should have the right to have health care that is the best that they can afford. Just because they weren’t originally born here doesn’t mean that they should be unable to have health care. I was two years off from being born in Hong Kong but I have lived here forever and I can’t imagine coming back to the states and not having the option of healthcare.
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I think every American and every illegal immigrant from anywhere in the world has an equal right to free health care in the USSA. It doesnt matter if you are half way around the world, or you are from right here in the USSA. I dont even care if you are a terrorist. You are human after all. Further, I dont think you even need to work for health insurance. If you dont feel like working, it should be provided for you for free on the sweat of those who do work. Those that are the most wealthy must surrender more of their earnings than any other, and the incentive to prosper must be eliminated. In fact, we need to chase the wealthy and the remainder of the manufacturing industry clean out of the country by imposing more taxes and stricter regulations on production which dont exist in third world countries. Now that we have nationalized health care, we can finally look forward to permanently high unemployment rates as enjoyed in the other modern nations who have adopted nationalized health care plans. Please, everyone, everywhere come get the best healthcare on the planet at no charge. My kid needs a surgery, but just because he is citizen and I pay taxes does not give me any more right to the benefit of the surgery than that of an illegal immigrant who has never paid an American tax in his life. Fair is fair and human is human.
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Well it depends on what kind of immigrants we are talking about. Did they come here legally or are they in the country illegally? If they are came here illegally, then no. They do not have the right to government run healthcare. They are working under the counter and not being taxed, and it is the citizens and legal immigrants of the United States that are essentially paying for their health care. Is it the humane thing to do? Probably not. I can not imagine being the doctor or nurse in an emergency room who will have to deny a man or woman help because they can not afford it without health care. This is especially troubling if we are talking about life or death situations. But this comes down to the individual doctor. If he wanted to, he could risk his career to save a man without health care, but I don’t think we should just hand out health care to everyone, legal or illegal, just because they are within our borders. They put an extreme burden on the other taxpayers, and they make no contribution to the running of our government or even the enforcement of our military, local police, National Guard, etc. Yes, they work extremely hard, and in some extreme conditions might I add, but it comes down to nickels and dimes. They don’t pay a cent to the government, and frankly every service in this society has a price. We can not just do everything in this world for free or else most people would lose their motivation to work. Most people do their jobs because it pays the bills. For instance, people don’t clean public bathrooms and empty trash because they love to do it. They do it because it pays the bills. Money makes society work. It gives people a reason to work harder and do jobs they normally wouldn’t want to do. It makes people want to obtain higher levels of education so they can reach that next pay scale and live a more comfortable life. We can just go around doing things for free or else it would just tear the basic structure of our society. Also, I would imagine it to be a big insult to the doctor for instance, if a patient came and ask for his services. This doctor put in years of hard work to learn his trade and spent a fortune to pay for that education. For someone to come in and ask for his services for free is just a big F U to the face. So to summarize, I believe that health care should be a right given to people in the United States, but only to those that pay their taxes. Thus, only native born citizens, and legal immigrants should have that right.
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I do no think that illegal immigrants should have access to a government-sponsored healthcare plan because it’s coming out of citizens’ taxes. I think that giving them access to it would be unfair to the people in this country who are not able to receive healthcare. People who are American citizens are sitting in emergency rooms dying because they are not covered, and doctors rather help the people who are covered. I think they should be allowed to live in this country, but they should become actual citizens before they try to receive all of the benefits that we as citizens have. I do believe everyone is entitled to healthcare, but people who do not pay taxes should not get a free ride.
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I think we have to look at whether or not the immigrants are legal or not. Healthcare is something that should be available to all people. I don’t think that there are too many sick people that we will face crises on hospitals and doctor’s offices all over the country. I feel have something of an obligation to reach out and help people who come into the country. How would you feel if you walked into a bar and received no service? If you walked into your own home and no one was taking care of you? This is a big question and I think it would be difficult to have the task of deciding who and who doesn’t get healthcare.
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I think that healthcare should be available to everyone in certain circumstances. Obviously if someone is gushing blood, a hospital should simply treat them regardless of their legal status. So I think that's a yes in the case of emergencies. Perhaps in other instances that are non-life threatening, the person can be put on a waiting list or something…I know that sounds selfish after I typed it. If I were the immigrant at the hospital, I'd probably get pissed off if I was on a waiting list. It's just that if we as a society start providing all these services free of charge to anyone that walks in the door, people are going to start to get the idea that they don't have to at least try to come here legally. Because they will be able to have all the amenities of a citizen no matter what.
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I think every American and every illegal immigrant from anywhere in the world has an equal right to free health care in the USSA. It doesn’t matter if you are half way around the world, or you are from right here in the USSA. I don’t even care if you are a terrorist. You are human after all. Further, I don’t think you even need to work for health insurance. If you don’t feel like working, it should be provided for you for free on the sweat of those who do work. Those that are the most wealthy must surrender more of their earnings than any other, and the incentive to prosper must be eliminated. In fact, we need to chase the wealthy and the remainder of the manufacturing industry clean out of the country by imposing more taxes and stricter regulations on production which don’t exist in third world countries. Now that we have nationalized health care, we can finally look forward to permanently high unemployment rates as enjoyed in the other modern nations who have adopted nationalized health care plans. Please, everyone, everywhere come get the best healthcare on the planet at no charge. My kid needs a surgery, but just because he is citizen and I pay taxes does not give me any more right to the benefit of the surgery than that of an illegal immigrant who has never paid an American tax in his life. Fair is fair and human is human.
All types of insurance are privileges. The liberals love to compare not having health insurance to not having car insurance. Driving is a Privilege! Protection purchased for the privilege of security. Every time the government turns a privilege into a right we lose freedoms. We once had the freedom to plan our retirement as we saw fit. Then there was social security, confiscating our money against our will for the benefit of others and for our own retirement which we are too irresponsible to plan for ourselves. Now this shit. The fucking IRS will actually be authorized to penalize you for not having health insurance that is to the spec of the Obamacare. We need to wake up! Health care isn’t a right for anyone! I don’t want to live in a country in which drivers insurance, food insurance, health insurance, fill in another fear here, are all assured in exchange for 89% of my paycheck. Karl Marx predicted that socialism is an inevitable stage following capitalism, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be stopped if people remember what it takes to remain a free country. The courage to tell your government you don’t need it to coddle you from the cradle to the grave. If people don’t start getting their shit in gear in the voting booths, they’d better start getting used to the United Socialist States of America.
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Should healthcare be an equal right for everyone, I take a look at it both ways. Yes it should be a right for everyone, who decided to be god and tell people that that they don’t have the chance to live because they don’t have the money to get help but the resources are available then why not. Health care is fundamental part of life but is it really a right or more of a luxury, in the end people who control healthcare will end up controlling healthcare and if those people are in charge and its their industry then they can actually exclude who ever they want to really. It’s a sad thing to say but that’s the world that we live in.
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Health care is a right not a privilege, however, heath insurance is a privilege not a right. Health Insurance is a product purchased by consumers who wish to receive care at a lower cost. I think that the universal healthcare proposal is going to destroy the health insurance industry. Health Insurance is a business based on people buying into the system, and then a pool of money paid by those who are not sick are used to pay for the procedures and treatment of those who are sick. If there are not enough healthy people buying into the system, the company will bankrupt. This is exactly why the government ran health insurance program will not work at all. There will not be enough funds to pay for the care of the patients enrolled in insurance programs. Obama does not get the idea through his head about this. He keeps on saying healthcare needs reform over and over again, but this is not simply the improvement that the industry needs. Our healthcare provided by our doctors and hospitals is the best in the world. There is not a problem with it at all; he is referring to health insurance. Obama doesn’t understand that the health insurance INDUSTRY is a business. The point of a business is to maintain operations costs and still be profitable and able to pay its employees. If the insurance company had to pay out more that it had too, it would not be able to survive at all.
George Bush proposed the idea of a healthcare savings account during his presidency. It would make the patient more of a consumer, and they would have more flexibility in choosing a doctor, hospital, or outpatient facility; because they would be in charge of the funds. It would give the consumer more freedom. I think people should work towards what they have, and the government should not hand everything to them on a silver plate. If government does everything for us, our society would collapse and we would have no reason to work at all. In neighborhoods where the government provides everything for them, they are simply downtrodden, and devastated. People should have the desirability to do everything in their power to better themselves and their families. If you just sit there and let the government do everything for you, people could just sit around all day and do nothing.
Government health insurance is completely wrong. It is providing a privilege to a small fraction of people at the cost of the majority of the country. Most Americans do have health insurance, but there are only 15% of Americans that don’t have it. This bill is going to destroy the health care job market for insurance administration jobs.
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I think there are two easy ways to answer this question. First from a human rights perspective, a person is a person and to deny someone access to essentially “health,” then that person’s human rights are being violated. I understand that to some people it seems completely off the wall to offer something that cost money – like health care – to someone who entered this country illegally. But there is a human component here – it is completely unjust to deny someone health care. But from a real worId stand point I also understand this is often not a powerful argument. I mean let’s face it there are many people that do not believe human rights can be extended to rights that require money in order for the right to be delivered.
But from a strict financial stand point, yes definitely extend health care to everyone living in the United States, regardless of their resident status. Because it is illegal to deny someone medical coverage, people who do not have access to primary health care use the emergency room for their health care access. For example, common ailments that go untreated can turn into serious medical problems and that is when people without medical care seek treatment in the emergency rooms. In turn, because they do not have health insurance the hospital bares the cost of their medical care. These costs are then transferred to the patients with insurance, because medical providers need to increase the cost of medical care for insured patients to offset the expense of uninsured patients.
So it’s simple, no one is talking about giving free health care to illegal immigrants, but why not let immigrants buy health insurance? In the end it would be better for all of us. Immigrants are paying into the system and the system is eliminating unnecessary expenses. To me it seems pointless not to allow illegal immigrants to purchase health care when it will benefit the overall health care system. I think the argument not to allow illegal immigrants to purchase health care is simply based on the fact that the people are here illegally, with no other rationale included in the argument.
I understand that people are pissed off people are entering our country illegally, but come on, let’s take a step back and look at the system. Like we talk about in class Thursday, big businesses are controlling immigration and illegal immigrants are here to do the jobs people in the U.S. are unwilling to do. It is also funny how today we criminalize illegal immigration, but when our great-grandparents were doing it immigration was fine and in fact a story of struggle and bravery. But today when people try to make a better life we see them as near criminals. I think if it was our great-grandparents wanting health care we would hope they had access.
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Although I believe that illegal immigrants are hard workers. I don’t believe that they should get free government services such as health care. They do need to pay taxes like everybody else so they can get health care and other services. It’s not fair that citizens and legal immigrants have to pay taxes but they are receiving the benefits of it. We do need sometime of change to regulate things and make things fair. I don’t know what type of system the government can come up with but one needs to be made up. They need to start regulating things. The illegal immigrants are basically stealing from those hard workers that do pay their taxes.
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