A new federal policy makes the children of undocumented immigrants ineligible to automatically qualify for Medicaid. Immigrant parents will have to file an application by providing documents to prove their child’s citizenship. Under the U.S. Constitution, all children born in the United States are automatically citizens.
Undocumented immigrants are generally barred from Medicaid but can get coverage for treatment of emergency
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In the past, once a woman received emergency care under Medicaid for the birth of a baby, the child was deemed eligible for coverage as well, and states had to cover the children for one year from the date of birth.
This new, racist policy denying automatic Medicaid coverage will make it harder for the children of undocumented immigrants to receive medical benefits at all.
It is the latest government attack on immigrant workers.
Requiring documentation forces immigrant parents to obtain birth certificates or other forms of identity proof. Getting a birth certificate, however, can take weeks or months. It requires parents to apply at a state welfare office.
Many undocumented immigrants are wary of going to any U.S. governmental agency with good reason. They know that they could be reported to federal immigration authorities and face arrest and deportation.
Infant care critical to future health
Pediatricians across the country have denounced the new policy. They know how crucial medical care is for infants in their first year of life. It is when critical development of the nervous system, respiratory system, immune system, kidney functions and other aspects of human physical development take place. A lack of health care during this year makes infants particularly vulnerable to disease and environmental hazards.
President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Jay E. Berkelhamer, stated that this new policy “punishes babies, who, according to the constitution, are citizens.”
Pediatrician, Dr. Martin C. Michaels, of Dalton, Georgia, reiterated that “newborns need care right from the start.” (New York Times, Nov. 2)
A 1993 report by the National Academy of Sciences details the many ways that infants during the first year of life are vulnerable to environmental hazards:
“Pound for pound, children breathe more air, drink more water, and consume more food than adults. The higher rate of intake means that children will receive higher doses of whatever contaminants are present in the air, water, or food. In addition, infants have a relatively greater surface area of skin than adults, thereby increasing their potential dermal absorption of certain compounds.”The study continued, “Human infants … differ from adults … in the relative immaturity of their biochemical and physiological functions. … Accordingly, certain organs … may be more vulnerable to injury.”
Capitalist justifications
Bush administration officials have said that the new policy was necessary to comply with the Deficit Reduction Act, signed into law in February 2006.
Using their logic, the government must cut costs to reduce the rising federal budget deficit. Taking health care away from infants is one way to reduce federal spending.
Implementing the policy will result in net Medicaid spending reductions of $4.8 billion over the next 5 years and $26.1 billion over the next 10 years. But these amounts are drops in the bucket compared with the half-a-trillion dollar Pentagon spending layout for 2007.
Cutting off funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan would go much further toward reducing the deficit than targeting the children of immigrants who need medical care.
But the Bush administration is unconcerned with deficit reduction. Together with current pro-rich tax policy, the purpose of the new immigrant infant healthcare policy is to line the pockets of the capitalists and shift the burden of survival onto the backs of workers.
When the Bush administration took office, it inherited a projected 10-year budget surplus (2002-2011) of $5.6 trillion. That estimated surplus has now become a $3.3 trillion deficit, a drastic fiscal reversal of $8.9 trillion. (House Budget Committee Report, February 2006) This reversal was the pretext for the Deficit Reduction Act.
The goal of the act is ignored by the government’s current tax agenda, however, which is supported by both capitalist parties. The Bush administration’s tax cuts will increase the deficit, reducing revenues by $1.9 trillion over 10 years (2007-2016), according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
In effect, the Deficit Reduction Act is unrelated to this health care decision. The government is using the act as justification for this attack on undocumented workers and their families.
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Everyone deserves health care
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health care in the United States. This includes prenatal care for immigrant mothers.
Prenatal care is the best predictor of the health of both the pregnant mother-to-be and the infant to be born. Renown obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Hilda Hutcherson has said that, “The single most important thing you can do to increase the chance that you will have a healthy baby is to get early and regular prenatal care.”
The leading causes of infant death include disorders relating to prematurity and low birth weight, all of which are highly correlated with access to prenatal care. Yet, prenatal care is explicitly denied to undocumented immigrants.
This new policy to deny automatic Medicaid benefits to the infants of immigrants is a continuation of U.S. capitalist government policies of racism toward immigrants. The policy is designed to affect only the newborn infants of immigrants who lack legal status in the United States. The overwhelming majority of undocumented workers come to this country from Mexico and Central America.
Healthcare policy decisions in this country are based on increasing private profits, and not on meeting people’s needs. But health care is a basic human right. It should be extended to everyone, regardless of national origin, immigration status or any other line of division foisted upon the working class by the capitalist bosses and their government.
