Republicans have moved to block federal taxpayer money from being used to pay for “free” healthcare for illegal aliens.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) has announced that he is introducing a bill on Thursday that seeks to crack down on tax dollars being used to pay for the medical care of foreign nationals who entered he country illegally.
Cassidy, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, is introducing legislation to prohibit Democrat-controlled states from forcing American citizens in other states to subsidize socialist state programs that expand public healthcare benefits to illegal immigrants.
The legislation is called the Protect Medicaid Act.
The bill would prevent federal funds from being used to administer state Medicaid benefits provided to noncitizens by American citizens.
If a state opts to extend Medicaid benefits to undocumented residents, the bill mandates that the state bears the full financial responsibility.
States would be prohibited from imposing any costs on taxpayers from other states.
While federal law already prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid, certain states, such as California, circumvent this restriction.
By using state funds from California’s public healthcare system, known as Medi-Cal, the state has extended Medicaid benefits to illegal aliens.
“Medicaid for migrants will be a magnet for more people to come to that state illegally,” Cassidy told Fox News last week.
“As well as running up their state debt.”
The bill seeks to require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate how states are maintaining the separation of federal and state funds when they are offering Medicaid services to illegal aliens.
The review would also examine whether these states employ loophole strategies like provider taxes and intergovernmental transfers to manipulate federal dollars.
Additionally, it assesses whether illegal border crossers benefit from covered outpatient drugs.
The legislation seeks to determine whether cover for such drugs is affecting prices for American citizens.
In the Golden State, nearly 700,000 illegal immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 now qualify for “free” healthcare services, as Slay News reported.
The program will cost California taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion.
For those living in California illegally within this age range, it translates to approximately $4,058 per year in medical coverage subsidies funded by the state’s general fund.
Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would begin providing healthcare coverage to additional illegal immigrants on top of the 1.1 million already in the Medi-Cal system.
More than one-third of California’s shrinking population of 39 million is enrolled in the Medi-Cal program.
The program even offers unnecessary procedures including transgender treatments such as sex change surgeries, all courtesy of the taxpayer.
The bill comes as record numbers of illegals have been caught crossing Democrat President Joe Biden’s open border.
From Dec. 1 to Dec. 31, over 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. Southern Border.
It is the highest total for a single month ever recorded.
December also marked the first time monthly migrant encounters surpassed 300,000.
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