A California-based immigration reform organization is calling on the Senate to amend a bill recently passed by the House that makes it easier for illegal immigrants to access a federally funded program to provide healthcare to low-income children.
HR 2 is the new expanded version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. But the group Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) says the legislation weakens verification requirements so that anyone who wishes to enroll will only be required to show a Social Security card -- something that can easily be forged. Rick Oltman, national spokesman for CAPS, says while providing healthcare to low-income children is a laudable goal, extending benefits to illegal aliens will mean fewer funds available for poor Americans. "The one thing that we do guarantee is emergency healthcare for everybody in the country. That's a good thing -- we can certainly afford to do that," says Oltman. "But opening up these public programs to allow anybody in the world to have access to them if they can simply get here is wrong. "What we do not need to be doing is heaping more patients on top of the taxpayer to pay for healthcare." The CAPS spokesman calls the push for this legislation merely a "vision" of what can be expected from the new Congress and the new administration. Oltman's organization is calling on the Senate to amend the legislation to prevent benefits from going to individuals who are in the country illegally.
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