Biden Proposes Rule Change to Allow Non-Citizens to Receive Entitlement Benefits
Like most Democrats, Joe Biden wants to open up our entitlement and welfare programs to foreigners, and this month he has proposed new rules to allow certain non-citizens to qualify for Medicaid and Obamacare.
On Thursday, Biden announced his plan to allow the 580,000 people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to qualify for medical coverage with both Medicaid and Obamacare, two health-care programs for which illegal aliens do not currently qualify.
“Health care should be a right, not a privilege,” Biden said in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday. “My administration has worked hard to expand health care, and today more Americans have health insurance than ever. Today’s announcement is about giving DACA recipients the same opportunity.”
Today, my Administration is announcing our plan to expand health coverage for Dreamers, the thousands of young people brought to the U.S. as kids.
We’re not done fighting for their pathway to citizenship, but we’re getting them the opportunities they deserve in the meantime. pic.twitter.com/4eqNMMNxtt
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 13, 2023
According to Politico, “HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement that the proposed rule would ‘improve health outcomes for DACA recipients and would in turn improve the economic and productive capacity of America.’ He estimated that roughly a third of immigrants enrolled in the DACA program are uninsured.”
Politico added, Biden intends to alter the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA enrollees. DACA members do not currently qualify under the term. Once the rule is altered to include DACA, they will be able to enroll in Medicaid and/or Obamacare.
The rule change will also open the spigot for billions in subsidies to pour into the states from the federal government where these DACA members will be enrolled. Currently, several states, such as California, have already begun allowing DACA members to enroll in Medicaid health-care plans, but they have not been reimbursed with federal dollars for doing so.
Consequently, states including California, New York and Minnesota will find a huge influx of federal cash once the rule is finalized.
The administration claims that the change will be completed by the end of April.
Biden, of course, is entirely wrong about health care being a “right.” In fact, by its very nature, it is impossible for health care to be a right. American rights is a concept he has always tried to undermine.
The exercise of a right often requires no duty on the part of others. The right to defend yourself requires no one else’s participation. The right of free speech requires that the government take no action against you as you exercise that right. Other rights only require simple duties. The right to a fair trial, for instance, only requires that the state set up rules to assure fairness. Many of the main American rights simply require that others don’t impede your exercise of them.
But if health care were a right, how would that impact others? Would a doctor or nurse be required to tend to you, even if it was against their will? Why should health-care providers lose their freedom of choice like that? Would everyone else be required to pay your bills? Would it have to be free? In that case, how does one fund a health-care system if it’s free?
Health care is also, by its nature, a limited resource. Were it to be considered a “right,” the demand would far, far outpace its availability.
Even more to the point, just what is “health care“? Is every last thing that involves your “health” everyone else’s responsibility? Would the whole world be required to give you water, food and a place to live for your “health”? Would elective, non-emergency plastic surgery have to be free if you think your happiness is part of your “health”? Where does all this begin and end? And who pays for it all?
Rights are generally pretty simply defined, but health care is not so easily defined.
Outside the philosophical discussion, Biden’s big expansion of entitlements also comes as the federal government’s spending continues to soar out of control and as many programs such as Medicaid, Social Security and others suffer from underfunding due to wild expansions of coverage. Yet Biden wants to put further strain on our collapsing budget by adding an even greater burden.
One might also note that this is the veritable camel’s nose under the tent. If Biden succeeds in expanding Medicaid and Obamacare for a subset of illegals, why not open it up for all illegals? What logic stops further expansion? Leftists never stop at small moves. They always go for the full measure. And this small move is just one more step toward that end.
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