Mmmmmm…Free Health Care For Illegal Aliens By W.C. Varones

by John Hawkins | January 10, 2007 8:44 am

Illegal aliens are just one aspect of a new plan for socialist health care in California.

Your once-conservative, now-liberal Governor Schwarzenegger[1]:

“I don’t think there is a question or debate that they ought to be covered.” That argument was based on the fact that federal law already requires that hospitals provide emergency care for those who need it. No one who needs emergency care can be turned away. So, Schwarzenegger extrapolated, providing nonemergency care is “realistic” and “not being in denial.”

“Realistic,” according to the governor’s office means that nearly 1 million undocumented workers will gain health coverage if the package passes – 40,000 through their (illegal) jobs, 160,000 by purchasing individual coverage and the remaining 750,000 would have their coverage paid for by the state. (Read: Your tax dollars.)

And those numbers do not take into account the attraction of guaranteeing health care to all residents, which – if you believe immigrants make smart economic decisions – is bound to lead to a surge in the number of immigrants illegally crossing the border into California. More undocumented workers will send for their families to join them, and others will decide that free health care provides an added incentive to break the law.

‘Cause, you know, automatic citizenship for their babies, free schools, and knowledge that no one will ever prosecute them aren’t enough to encourage illegal immigration.

This is just so blindingly obvious. Does Schwarzenegger actually believe that people will choose to live in poverty in a third-world country when there is a taxpayer-funded life of free stuff just across an unsecured border?

The most obvious sign of economic illiteracy is the failure to understand incentives. Raise taxes, and you’ll get less of whatever you’re taxing. Give away free health care, you’ll get more people turning up at doctors’ offices and hospitals (and sneaking across the border to get there). What kind of moron can’t grasp that?

This content was used with the permission of Polipundit[2].