In skimming their website for something else, I stumbled across a Newsweek article making the case for health insurance for illegals.  The main thrust of the article is that there is an economic advantage to insuring people who are in the country illegally.  The advantage is based on the notion that illegal immigrants are, for their age and occupation, generally healthier than a similar American.  Because of the way insurance works, a healthy individual paying into the system reduces costs for everyone else because they contribute more money than they demand.  Unfortunately for Newsweek, even assuming that the average illegal is healthier than the comparable American, there are at least two fundamental flaws in the article’s argument providing them with insurance.

The first and most glaring flaw is that the article appears to simply assume that illegals are going to pay for their insurance like the rest of us.  Given that these people are “undocumented,” that they do not pay taxes, and that they do not appear on official company payrolls, this appears to be an assumption that deserves close scrutiny.  Furthermore, if the attraction of hiring illegals is the fact that they can be paid below minimum wage for long hours and given few benefits, these people are certainly not all that wealthy.  Most probably couldn’t afford insurance if they wanted to.  Thus, in order to be covered by universal health care, their premiums would need to be subsidized by raising the premiums (or taxes) on none other than the people whose costs they are supposedly bringing down.  Insuring illegals is a losing proposition the instant one of them goes to the doctor.

The second flaw is somewhat more subtle, but it amounts to the author assuming that the number of sick illegals entering the country will not increase.  That assumption will undoubtedly be false.  The reason illegals are so healthy now is because they need to be in order to not only cross the border but to then also work the long hours of physical labor required for them to succeed.  Insurance for illegals adds a new form of success: Without having done any work or paying a dime, an illegal would be cured of all that ails him.

It is a good sign that even the left understands the need to talk about economics.  They would be better served if their arguments were correct.  The economics are undoubtedly against the left on this issue.  Illegals should not be spending our tax dollars in our hospitals while American citizens are standing in line; they should be where they belong — at home.

Tags: economics, healthcare, immigration