So Joe Wilson shouts crudely, "You Lie," at the president from the House floor. What's the truth about illegal immigrants and health care?
Karen E. Crummy of the Denver Post, takes a look at the language of the House bill, and determines that while illegal immigrants are not exempt from the requirements to buy insurances and not prohibited from enrolling in the "Health Insurance Exchange," which offers access to private plans and a public option (should it ever come to pass) they must be in the country lawfully to receive subsidies based on income. That's according to research by the the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of Congress.
"While there are no spelled-out citizenship verification procedures, implementing proper mechanisms would fall to the health choices commissioner, a presidential appointee position, created by the legislation, who would oversee a new regulatory body, according to congressional services. There are citizenship checks already in place for federal programs such as Medicaid, which could be used for this purpose.
Additionally, Leighton Ku, a health policy analyst and professor at George Washington University, said that because the bill ties subsidies to substantiated income, there already exists a good method to weed out fraud through tax returns.
