U.S. law
already prohibits unauthorized immigrants from gaining any federally subsidized health care coverage — through Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or otherwise. A
1996 statute established that.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Republicans are “lying” about the
Democratic bill out of weakness.
“Nowhere have Democrats suggested that we're interested in changing federal law,” he said one day before the shutdown. “The question for the president is whether he's interested in protecting the health care of the American people.”
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The facts
The Republican claim is highly misleading.
The Democratic bill would not change existing law barring people who are in the U.S. illegally from getting federal health care coverage.