The health care debate continues and we heard President Obama speak to the nation about his plan Wednesday night. Indeed the president's speech was grossly interrupted by Congresssman Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina. Wilson screamed, "You lie!" when Obama said that undocumented immigrants would NOT be covered by health care reform. His emotional outburst is characteristic of a lot of the immigrant haters out there, but at least Wilson had the sense to apologize.
But the point is Obama's plan would NOT cover undocumented immigrants. But I and others like Carmen Velasquez think it should. I believe they should be able to buy into an affordable program that would save taxpayers money in the long run and I've blogged about this before.
Velasquez has dedicated her life to serving the underinsured and the uninsured. She is one of the leading advocates for health care in Chicago's Latino community and the founder and executive director of Alivio Medical Center. Alivio opened its doors more than 20 years ago and today they serve more than 21,000 patients a year at several locations. Velasquez said around half of the patients they treat are undocumented. Here are excerpts from our recent interview.
What is the argument for giving health care to the undocumented?
There is no argument. It's a principle. And the principle is social justice. It's a right like a right to freedom of speech. We have a right to live and quality of care. All people have the right to receive care.
Should that care be funded by the government?
I think the United States is the only country that doesn't see that that it is a right. All the countries in Europe believe that it is a right. Some accuse Cuba with all it's faults, but Cuba believes that all people have the right to health care.
How is that we found the money for war? How is it that we found the money for the stimulus? Billions and trillions of dollars. And we cannot find the dollars and the so called justification that all people must have health care in the USA of North America.
You are upset over a state policy proposal to deny undocumented women cervical exams. Isn't it more expensive if we don't offer health care to the undocumented?
In the long run it will cost society more money. If you don't have prevention, it will cost you more money.
To say undocumented women are not entitled to a service (such as pap exam or a mammogram), what will happen when this woman gets cancer? She will show up at a hospital. Then it will cost more money to take care of her. If they identify it at the early stages, isn't it logical they will save more money?
What do we need to accomplish health care reform?
There are five things.
1) It has to be all inclusive and include the undocumented.
2) We cannot have any change in Medicaid that will eliminate people who that need that support.
3) Increase the number of Hispanic and bilingual/bilingual health care providers. Only two percent of all nurses in this country are fluent bilingual/bicultural and primary care physicians are less and less.
4) You can't have the industry of managed care having so much influence in telling you how to serve the patients.
5) Prevention...You need to have health advocates. We need to support the safety nets (like Alivio Medical Center.)
What needs to change to bring about health care reform?
What needs to change is the racism in this country. What is stopping people to say people who are undocumented should not have this care?
They believe we don't pay taxes. We do. They believe we do not contribute to this society. We do.
What do you think of a public option for health care?
They are playing with words. What is a public option? I don't know what that means. Don't ask me, ask the president.
What does that mean a public option? The devil is in the details. Nobody knows.
What should a public option include?
It should be a model like Alivio Medical Center. It's a federally qualified health center. It's a safety net.
Filed under: health care, Hispanic, immigration
Tags: Alivio Medical Center, Carmen Velasquez, Chicago, health care, Joe Wilson, lie, President Obama, undocumented immigrants
Not to worry. I watched the video again from last night and President Obama clearly said ILLEGAL immigrants would not be insured under the reform efforts planned, undocumented immigrants are not impacted.
You will have a tough sell to me why I should pay more to cover someone who is here illegally. I read your other blog and responses so I'm not in the minority thinking this way.
I do think that any NON government subsidized/insured health insurance program should be available to anyone who can afford to pay it ... like buying a car and insuring it (there are no citzenship questions right?)
The moral issue of providing care to a patient can still be met but only for triage care. When you have an accident victim in a coma who is here illegally, care should be given and questions about payment and immigration status should come later (reference that non government sponsored plan above).
I'm not heartless but facilities like the Alivio Medical Center should be used for triage and then as part of deportation proceedings, provide their patients who are in the US illegally with immediate treatment, medication, a medical history, and reference letter to be received by a physician in the illegal immigrant patient's country of citizenship. The principle of providing care will still be met as well as enforcement current law.
Medical personnel don't want to be the INS but if a facility is operating under state and federal qualifications, those certifications should be granted only when the facility administration agrees to follow the law.
Otherwise if the government rewards illegal behavior, then things will get worse - worse for the illegal immigrants seeking care (as there will be more consumers and fewer resource) and worse for taxpayers who fund programs already helping people who can't afford to pay their medical expenses.
Health care should be something every US citizen should be able to get. If you are not a legal US citizen, then NO you should not be covered except in a life threating. Why should the US keep rewarding illegals?
It's not a social injustice. The injustice is your race coming here and demanding the US supports them. And complaining when it doesn't support illegals.
Your comment about racism needs to be redirect to your race. All other immigrants came to this country and had to learn English. Your race refuses to. Remember it is push one for English or stay on the line for Spanish. What happened to Polish, German, Italian ect...?
Just one clarification: Hispanics are not a race but a culture. A Hispanic can be White, Black, Asian, Native American or whatever combination.
Health care is a human right; Hispanic is not a race, it's an ethnicity; monolingualism is a curable disease (Carlos Fuentes) and ignorance and bigotry can be remediated with a good education, which is also a human right. Human rights are universal.
Okay, but is health insurance a human right? Nobody, to my knowledge, in the US, is denied health care - catastrophic or preventative, based on their immigration status. Catastrophic cases are treated no matter. Preventative cases are often routed to clinics like the above or other institutions that offer treatment at a more affordable cash price. In fact, I know that even a very expensive and reputable medical practice will treat any patient as long as they can afford it - they accept cash like any other business and don't turn away those with illegal immigration status. What is being discussed above is that Alivio could perform any tests they want to but they won't be reimbursed by the government ... so either Alivio would have to absorb the cost or they take a discounted fee (or a set cash fee) for the service.
The point the President is making is that government funded public exchange health insurance would not be provided to illegal immigrants. Also, and this sort of blows apart the point of the blog, the President has to treat health insurance separate from illegal immigration and if we are ever going to get anywhere close to fixing the issues, we do as well. People made their decisions in life to remain in the US illegally, they need to understand that their actions have consequences on themselves and their families. Personal responsibility is something that people conveniently forget about and instead bring up stories of illegal immigrants dying in the streets because nobody will provide health care for them.
Consider this, if health insurance improvements are implemented, and the price for catastrophic and preventative health care is driven down by the market, the price of services to the uninsured will also go down.
Monolingualism is curable? GREAT! That means illegals can learn english.
That could be right. But also United Stateans could be cured from speaking just English. (please, don't tell me that you took 4 years of Spanish and all that you know how to say is: "Una cerveza, por favor" or "
good to know that at least he apologized.