As both parties dig in for an extended shutdown, Republicans are testing to see whether Democrats will defend paying for any health care that could be used by noncitizens.
Democrats’ main demand in government funding talks has been an extension of tax credits to fund Affordable Care Act plans, without which many patients’ premiums will skyrocket. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for federally-funded health care plans, a refrain House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others are quick to repeat.
But the GOP’s idea is to frame every dollar as going to either an American or an “illegal,” and accuse Democrats of playing games with asylum and refugee statuses to allow migrants to access benefits.
“There’s a lot of emergency health care at hospitals that [is] provided to illegal aliens,” Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Wednesday morning. “That was funded by the federal government. We turned off that funding because of course we want American citizens to benefit from those hospital services, not to be taxed and then have those hospital services go to illegal aliens.”
The Republican policy bill passed earlier this year trimmed reimbursements for some hospitals that offer ER care to migrants without legal status, rather than cutting off the funding entirely. But the rhetoric has baffled Democrats, who see ER payments as effective and noncontroversial and are unwilling to disavow it. Conservative media outlets have seized on that hesitation, producing awkward sound bites that have powered campaign ads and White House messaging, regardless of the salience in the shutdown fight.
“That’s such a small part of where [the funding] could go,” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said on a call with reporters Wednesday, of ER visits. “No federal dollars go to undocumented people on Medicare, Medicaid, or the Affordable Care Act. That’s the best they’ve got?”