Should undocumented immigrants be allowed to receive medicaid benefits?

[milestogo]

Last edited Fri Apr 11, 2025, 12:12 PM - Edit history (1)

76 votes, 4 passes | Time left: Time expired
	Yes
	37 (49%)
	No
	39 (51%)
	OTHER
	0 (0%)
	4 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[marble falls]

1. Hell, yes.

[Ocelot II]

2. You mean "undocumented," right?

No human being is illegal; that's the term Trump/MAGA has started using again to be sure immigrants are sufficiently dehumanized. And yes, they should be able to access medical care. Sick people are a hazard to everyone.

[displacedvermoter]

3. If you are going to have them working

in food service industries, in meat plants, in canneries, and in hotels, motels, nursing homes and on farms, hell yes! For public health reasons at bare minimum, basic moral decency aside. I would like to think the person serving me my lunch or processing the meat I am having for dinner doesn't have TB or a gastrointestinal disease. Their health is related to mine it would seem.

[Pachamama]

6. +10000

So important

[CTyankee]

18. I strongly agree!

Just as a public health matter, we need to have everyone covered with basic health care. Isn't that obvious?

[MichMan]

34. If people are legally working with work permits, doesn't that mean they are documented ?

[haele]

46. Typhoid Mary comes to mind...

An Irish immigrant cook with poor hygiene habits, she spread asymptomatic and active Typhoid that devastated at least three or four New York families she had worked for before health inspectors figured out she was "patient zero" as it were.
They arrested her, put her in a sanitarium for a year to ensure "she was no longer contagious" then let her out whereupon she returned to working as a cook, promptly sickening and killing members of two more families. She was then placed in a hospital where she stayed the rest of her life.
They think she infected over 100 people and was responsible for the death of almost 50.
If you don't provide medical to those working with the public gratis, you get another Typhoid Mary, only this time it will be Measles Mike, Hepatitis A Jose or Tuberculosis Theresa...

[NH Ethylene]

4. I said no.

But I believe they should be given a path to become 'legal' if they are (or being cared for by those who are) employed and paying taxes. And then awarded Medicaid benefits if they are financially eligible.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Why not?

[LS0999]

10. We need to focus on issues that win elections

This is definitely a losing issue. How about giving Medicaid to all citizens first like Canada does. Maybe giving undocumented people Medicaid is a utopian idea but we are far from that point.

[Jack Valentino]

24. The question was not "should we run on this issue",

but whether they should get the benifits.... "should"...


I can't answer it myself, but I am not a definite "NO" in terms of the question as it was asked...

[Polybius]

26. Still no n/t

[Jack Valentino]

27. Still undecided.

[NH Ethylene]

41. It doesn't matter if we 'run' on that.

We certainly didn't run on 'defund the police'. They grab these things and amplify them, and turn off a lot of swing voters.

[NH Ethylene]

22. If you entered another country without permission, would you expect that country to provide you with free medical care?

I certainly would not. But if I was employed and paying taxes in that country, I would then expect to be able to become a citizen and enjoy the benefits of being a citizen.

In addition, if Democrats stood for providing ANY benefits for undocumented people, we would be crucified with that during an election. It would do more damage than 'defund the police!'

[Jack Valentino]

28. yeah, Democrats are always 'crucified' for wanting to help people,

whether it is United States citizens, or anyone else....

and crucified for whatever completely fictional issues that Republicans wish to create.

[justaprogressive]

37. Whether or not you expect it

most civilized absolutely would! In the strange country of NH who knows?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

38. As someone who entered a country to work and then that permission disappeared for a time, and who then needed and

acquired medical care for free, I'm not the person to ask to make your point.

And how does your stance apply to children?

In addition, if Democrats stood for providing ANY benefits for undocumented people, we would be crucified with that during an election.

People are afraid to have Democrats stand for much of anything, so I guess this doesn't surprise me.

[Emile]

49. Cvilized countries will provide medical care.

[Emile]

5. Everyone in this country should get healthcare.

I don't like the idea of contagious diseases spreading from the uninsured to the ones who can afford healthcare.

[leftstreet]

14. +1

[milestogo]

7. The plan to cut Medicaid involves cutting undocumented immigrants from the program.

[elocs]

9. "Illegal" immigrants is a maga/Republican tell, usually tipping how the writer/speaker feels about them.

I think most Democrats and Liberals would prefer "undocumented" immigrants because "illegal" or "illegals" tends to brand them for who they are as human beings.

[travelingthrulife]

11. Also, most of them have applied for their documents but our process is glacial

in pace.

[Ping Tung]

12. Yes. Common human decency demands us to care for our brothers and sisters when they are in need.

Con los pobres de la Tierra / quiero yo mi suerte echar.. (It is with the poor of the earth that I will cast my lot) From the song "Guantanama" by José Martí

[Prairie_Seagull]

13. "He aint heavy, he's my brother"

"So on we go".

[SKKY]

15. If an undocumented individual is working and paying taxes...

....IMHO, they should enjoy all the benefits that entails.

[MichMan]

32. If someone is legally allowed to work, doesn't that make them documented by definition?

[SKKY]

39. I mean, I see your argument and it makes sense....

...but there is a difference between legal status for employment and legal status for residency. Now, should there be a difference? I don't really think so.

[hunter]

16. Our entire health care "system" needs to be nationalized...

... and some of those currently in charge of our for-profit industry thrown in prison for crimes against humanity.

Anyone seeking appropriate high quality health care ought to receive it simply by virtue of being here and being human.

It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor here in the U.S.A., collectively we pay more for medical care than anyone else. Unfortunately the quality of that care, judging by outcomes, is crap. Our medical industrial complex is as likely to increase human suffering as it is to relieve it, even for wealthy people with "platinum" insurance plans and millions of dollars in the bank.

Our health care system in the U.S.A. is so broken it creates endless opportunities for snake oil salesman and other charlatans like RFK jr and Doctor Oz to sell their own brands of bullshit.

In too many ways the U.S.A. is not a true "first world" nation. Any nation that cannot provide safe comfortable shelter, healthy food, and appropriate healthcare to all its citizens is a failed state.

[Quiet Em]

17. Is this the latest Republican red herring?

Undocumented immigrants cannot enroll in Medicaid. Federal law prohibits it.

Some States, my State of NY for instance, do offer State funded benefits for some undocumented immigrants, prengant, children, over 65.

[milestogo]

19. You're right.

They are talking about banning something that isn't even happening. Probably just a way of ramping up hate for undocumented immigrants.

California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington — provide state-funded nutrition assistance to some of the immigrants who are ineligible for the federal SNAP program.

[Quiet Em]

21. Yup. That's what they do.

Republicans are always looking for a way to detract from the destruction and chaos they create.

[NH Ethylene]

23. They've done a lot of this. Many people believe that undocumented immigrants are getting welfare and

food stamps, and are allowed to vote!

[Solly Mack]

20. Undocumented. And, yes.

[Polybius]

25. Hell no

I like winning elections.

[Duncanpup]

29. Why would anyone think that these people should not deserve healthcare.

Regardless of their status if they are citizens. If Christ was a real person ask yourself what would he say on this matter.

[J_William_Ryan]

30. We must first ensure every American has access to affordable healthcare.

And in the context of such a program undocumented immigrants would also be covered.

[GreenWave]

31. if our red state farmers and ranchers hire them they should pay, not taxpayers.

[MichMan]

35. What if they are working for blue state farmers and ranchers? n/t

[GreenWave]

40. That too.

[Emile]

33. Why are there so many of you thinking it's

okay that human beings are going without healthcare?

[Polybius]

43. Many of us who voted "No" mainly did so because we are thinking of future elections

It's not a winning issue to run on.

[Emile]

48. Well, maybe it's time now to educate the ignorant.

[Polybius]

50. I don't think we'll ever get to a position where the majority favor it

Not even half of DU supports this.

[Emile]

58. We need to change direction.

[Vinca]

36. I say yes because those benefits are funding our hospitals. If an undocumented person goes to the ER

for a broken leg, the hospital is going to fix the broken leg and there will be a giant medical bill as a result. The hospital might be reimbursed if the person has Medicaid or, if not, they will get stuck writing off the debt. That causes prices for the rest of us to rise and eventually might cause the hospital to fold.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

44. Agree. Even "normal" illnesses can wind up in the ER if untreated.

Medicaid can provide for treatment before it gets serious enough for the costly ER.

I also voted Yes.

[dalton99a]

42. .

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-1st-state-offer-health-insurance-undocumented-immigrants/story?id=105986377

California becomes first state to offer health insurance to all undocumented immigrants
About 700,000 adults between ages 26 and 49 will be eligible as of Jan. 1
By Mary Kekatos
December 29, 2023, 12:22 PM

California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants.

Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California's version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes.

Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.

In 2015, undocumented children were able to join Medi-Cal under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal access for young adults ages 19 through 25, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Access was then further expanded to allow older adults aged 50 and older to receive full benefits, also regardless of immigration status.

...

[JCMach1]

45. People can vote no, but there is a cost to society whatsoever

You do about this question.

[Scrivener7]

54. Great point.

[republianmushroom]

47. Compassion of and for my fellow man never ceases to amaze me.

[Srkdqltr]

51. no we should put them in the lobby of a hospital and let them die. Gezzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Good God I voted wrong.. sheessssshhhhhhhhh thats so stupid

[Scrivener7]

53. Right? Do people get that they won't have access to lifesaving care for themselves or their children?

[hadEnuf]

52. Healthcare is a human right.

[lees1975]

55. No, but I will qualify that answer.

We need to have a separate health plan in place for undocumented immigrants, especially those who work.

[58Sunliner]

56. One, you have to apply for, and be eligible for, Medicaid. If they are eligible, yes.

I know that society benefits when we all have access to medical care. That has been proven.

[Diamond_Dog]

57. Most of them are here to work, hence, they pay taxes. Why shouldn't they be eligible for Medicaid?