Title: Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show | CNSNews
Headings: Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show
Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show
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Content: Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show | CNSNews
Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show
By Matt Cover | July 29, 2009 | 5:57pm EDT
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (CNSNews.com) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that “illegal immigrants are not covered” in the health care reform legislation that is now working its way through House committees. But when asked about illegal immigrants who go to public hospitals for care, Pelosi told CNN’s State of the Nation on Sunday the law requires that they be treated. The cost of treating illegal aliens amounts to nearly $11 billion a year, according to calculations done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a non-profit group that opposes illegal immigration. And that cost is not expected to go away if a health insurance reform bill becomes law. “If you’re in this country illegally, should you be able to get health care?” CNN’s John King asked Pelosi. “ No, illegal immigrants are not covered by this plan,” she replied. “And so what happens to a public hospital then, if they walk into the emergency room?