Cassidy introduces bill to stop federal tax dollars from going to healthcare for illegal immigrants

FIRST ON FOX: Top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is introducing a bill Thursday to prohibit liberal states from forcing American citizens in other states to subsidize state programs that expand public healthcare benefits to illegal immigrants.

The legislation, called the Protect Medicaid Act, 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 without 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 their public healthcare system, known as Medi-Cal, to extend Medicaid benefits to individuals without legal immigration status.

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Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) questions U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a hearing about the Biden Administrations FY2024 federal budget proposal.

"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 offering Medicaid services to illegal individuals maintain the separation of federal and state funds. The review would also examine whether these states employ loophole strategies like provider taxes and intergovernmental transfers to manipulate federal dollars. Additionally, it assesses if individuals without legal status benefit from covered outpatient drugs, and whether this affects prices for American citizens.

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shot of medical theme (iStock)

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In the Golden State, nearly 700,000 illegal immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 qualify, as of Jan. 1, for health care services, which 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.

Newsom announced California would begin providing health care 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, which also covers transgender procedures such as sex change surgeries.  

The bill comes as from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31, over 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border, the highest total for a single month ever recorded. It also marked the first time monthly migrant encounters surpassed 300,000.