Yes, Joe Wilson Was Right!

By James R. Edwards, Jr. on August 13, 2011

President Obama and all those Democrats who jumped all over Rep. Joe Wilson a couple of years ago owe Mr. Wilson an apology. For he was dead on when he challenged the president's bald-faced assertion, trying to sell his government takeover of health care, that illegal aliens wouldn't benefit from his health care scheme.

Lo and behold, the truth is coming out: "Migrants" who seek medical care from community health clinics won't face any screening to ensure their legal immigration status. The Obama administration has awarded these clinics several million dollars in Obamacare money, no immigration strings attached.

The bureaucrats skirt immigration status-checking responsibility by citing the law's omission of any requirement of such screening in health centers or the funding thereof. The law applies status verification only to Medicaid, not any of the other ways Obamacare doles out health care on the public's dime.

Readers may recall my examination of the flimsy, leaky verification procedure contained in the Senate-enacted health bill. As warned, this example now coming out follows the modus operandi of liberals in politics. They care nothing for safeguarding and being responsible with scarce taxpayer money. Rather, they liberally spend other people's money, giving away as many resources as they can in order to be able to "prove" high levels of need for their favored public service or benefit. In this case, it's medical care at government-subsidized health clinics.

Two years ago, I predicted: "The few eligibility verification requirements that do exist in each bill fall well short of what would be needed to prevent illegal aliens from gaining access to taxpayer-funded health care on top of the emergency care they already receive. In addition to greatly expanding taxpayer liability and growing government's role in the health sector of the U.S. economy, the legislation amounts to a reward for illegal aliens and another power boost to the magnet that draws illegal aliens." I hate to say it, but I told you so.