Federal and state spending for medical services for illegal aliens topped $16 billion under “border czar” Kamala Harris, an increase of 124 percent compared to the same period under the Trump administration.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported those figures in an analysis requested by House Budget Committee Congressional Budget Office Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX).
“The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis confirms that the mass migration of illegal immigrants is costing billions of dollars to Medicaid—a program created to serve the health care needs of the most vulnerable Americans,” said Arrington in a statement addressing the findings. “This is on top of the executive action taken to provide $9 billion in Obamacare to illegal immigrants.”
This illegal use of taxpayer-funded health care is draining federal resources and disincentivizing people from pursuing legal avenues for migration, says Arrington.
“With over $16.2 billion flowing from federal and state governments’ coffers to pay for emergency services for illegal aliens, it is clear that Open Border Czar Vice President Harris’s failed border policies remain the greatest threat to both the United States’ national security and our economic standing,” Arrington said.
‘Likely Only a Fraction’
As shocking as the numbers provided in the analysis are, the taxpayer cost may be much higher, says Matt Dean, a senior fellow for health care policy outreach at The Heartland Institute, which co-publishes Health Care News.
“The projected spend of $16 billion by the House Budget Committee is very likely only a fraction of the actual cost of care to pay for the health care of illegal aliens crowding hospitals and clinics,” said Dean. “We all pay for this shift in the cost of care, which disproportionately and unfairly falls on the backs of middle-class Americans who pay higher rates for private health insurance and obtain less care for their families as it is rationed to stretch scarce out-of-pocket dollars.”
‘No Good Numbers’
Gauging the real number of illegal aliens siphoning benefits meant for taxpayers is tricky due to everchanging rules for reporting and estimating the population of undocumented border-crossers and overstays, says Dean. Estimates for the number of illegal aliens in the United States and of those receiving health care vary widely, with highly implausible numbers being reported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Joe Biden, says Dean.
“The real problem is that we have no good numbers to show how many illegal aliens are in the U.S., how they are receiving health care, or how that care is being paid for,” said Dean. “The DHS contends that there were around 11 million illegal aliens in 2022, with little change over the past ten years.
Senator Marco Rubio claims that the number could be as high as 30 million. The fact that encounters at the southern border by the DHS skyrocketed from 2.37 million during the years 2017-2021 to 8.72 million since, would indicate that a static population of inadmissible aliens during those years is unbelievable. If we don’t know whether the number is 11 million or 30 million, it makes no sense to budget their cost of care.”
Budgeting can become a guessing game, says Dean.
“It is hard to determine exactly how much care is being received by unauthorized aliens in our care system because we don’t have good numbers on how much care is delivered, how much is uncompensated, and which patients are in the U.S. legally,” said Dean.
‘The Endpoint Is California’
In addition to direct payouts for medical care for illegals by Medicaid and other taxpayer services, lax oversight of health care expenditures by illegal aliens imposes other financial burdens on citizen taxpayers, such as higher copays and premiums caused by the increased demand for services.
Poor or nonexistent vetting of aliens seeking health care is an intentional policy, says Linda Gorman, director of the Health Care Policy Center at the Independence Institute
“Federal policy is all about reducing the number of uninsured,” said Gorman. “It doesn’t matter whether the uninsured get medical care or the insured don’t get medical care or whether the uninsured person is here illegally and goes home for medical care: all policies supporting the expansion of government control of health care are defended by saying it reduces the number of uninsured.”
Admitting illegals increases the number of uninsured, which bolsters the case for bigger and bigger roles for government in medical care, increasing the tax burden on American citizens. The endpoint is California, which has recently decided to cover all residents who qualify for Medicaid on an income basis regardless of citizenship. The fig leaf is that California is supposed to use state funds to pay for those people.”
‘Activists Began Whining’
States habitually enroll people who are ineligible for Medicaid, says Gorman.
“Eligibility checks on Medicaid enrollment have not been taken seriously for a long, long, time,” Gorman said. “In 2006, when people were required to provide real ID for enrollment, Medicaid enrollment fell for the first time in 40 years.”
Harvard physician and health economist Benjamin Sommers estimates 390,000 adult noncitizens in Medicaid (one in four) and 81,999 child noncitizens (one in eight) were screened out by the requirement, says Gorman.
“Because coverage is all that matters, the left immediately began beating the drum about people losing coverage, and activists began whining about the loss of coverage and set about weakening the ID requirements,” said Gorman. “By and large, they have been successful.”
Kevin Stone (kevin.s.stone@gmail.com) writes from Arlington, Texas
This article was updated for clarification on December 5, 2024.
