By snoadmin
Can the United States, or California in particular, afford not to provide medical services to undocumented immigrants? The recent outbreak of “bacon flu” shows that we are not where we should be, either sociologically, politically or intellectually when it comes to dealing with health problems and how they impact the economy.
Decisions by a few California counties in recent months to cut nonemergency medical services to undocumented folks could put millions of people at risk. Now that the potential of a deadly global pandemic is hitting us in the useless little surgical facemask, these counties might wish to reconsider.
Beginning in February, Sacramento County oinkers stingily voted to blockade undocumented people from basic services at county clinics, claiming it would save them $2.4 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Caught in the contagious trend, Contra Costa County followed Sacramento into the financial ER. Their decision bars treating undocumented adults, surgically cutting approximately $6 million from the budget.
Yolo County now has an item on next month’s ballot to follow the pattern. Their intention is to save $1.2 million by eradicating treatment to people without papers.
Healthcare for all should already be a done deal. Former-President George W. Bush vowed to tackle it way back when and failed miserably at any type of comprehensive healthcare reform. New President Barack Obama put it high on his agenda when he took office, but faces strong resistance from Republicans.
Instead of treating healthcare as a human issue, elected leaders have chosen to follow the dangerous path of looking at the dollar signs. This is the “can’t see the forest for the trees” mentality that places us all in harm’s way.
Partisan bickering over pork barrel spending has hogtied Congress to the point that we are not prepared for something like swine flu. The finger-pointing about where this disease originated isn’t helping to find a cure. Some experts say it started in Mexico, while others say the source was U.S. pork. It matters little now because that pig has fled the sty.
Compounding the problems of the hysteria being generated from this outbreak, some senators like Sen. Joseph Lieberman and others are politicizing the issue by calling for tighter border controls.
They just don’t get it do they? Homeland Security can’t stop the journey of viral pathogens because flu doesn’t recognize lines on a map. This would not only mandate no travel in either direction, it would require total isolation from the rest of the world. Imagine the billions that would be lost in the travel and tourism industries. Why not just place a ban on any Swede who ever considered vacationing in Cancun?
The spread of this disease hasn’t been tagged to undocumented people, but rather has found its way to the U.S. in the lungs of legal travelers, according to several media sources. Conservative fanatics like CNN’s race-baiting host Lou Dobbs, however, are attempting to inflame the public with anti-immigration paranoia.
It’s imperative that our legislators focus on controlling this pandemic, rather than targeting “illegal immigrants.” Closing the U.S.-Mexico border and barring medical treatment for the undocumented is not a solution, but rather exacerbates the problem.
Providing nonemergency healthcare to undocumented people, even if it’s just for the sniffles, is a matter of dollars and sense. Every human with an illness should have access to medical treatment because it protects the larger populations.
Spot On!!!!