Joshua Hoyt of ICIRR misleads about healthcare for illegal aliens (Mark Kirk)

Josh Hoyt - director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights whose president is linked to the Mexican government - offers "Congressman Kirk's Immigrant Blind Spot May Cost Him Dearly" (huffingtonpost.com/joshua-hoyt/congressman-kirks-immigra_b_272713.html). He's very "concerned" (as in the type of troll) about Rep. Mark Kirk's stance on immigration-related matters. Unfortunately, "concerns" such as he has strike a chord with certain Republicans who then - instead of doing the smart thing and trying to take power away from people like Hoyt - give in to their far-left demands and give them even more power.

And, he's misleading about Kirk, a recent Newsweek article, and related issues:

At last week's heavily attended town hall meeting on health care reform in Arlington Heights Congressman Mark Kirk continued to propagate what Newsweek just called one of "The Five Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate": that proposed reforms will provide health insurance to illegal immigrants.

Kirk questioned even the notion that reform is necessary, claiming that few of the estimated 50 million uninsured in the U.S. are needy U.S. citizens. He then thundered to the applauding crowd, "Should we provide taxpayer health care for people who are illegally here in the U. S.? I do not think we should provide federally-subsidized health care to illegal aliens." No matter that the House version of reform explicitly excludes "individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States".

1. He's misrepresenting what the Newsweek article said. The article was misleading in part because it was supposedly about lies but they then admitted the possibility that illegal aliens could get benefits under the House bill.

2. It's not clear who said it, but there aren't an "estimated 50 million uninsured in the U.S.". The latest Census Bureau statistics are for 2007, and they're considered a high estimate. Their figures were 45.7 million without healthcare insurance, 9.7 million of that number are not U.S. citizens. Considering the next point, it's likely that the 50 million came from Hoyt and not from Kirk.

3. Kirk presented his argument in this video; the exact numbers aren't clear, but after subtracting foreign citizens, those eligible for public programs, those who are only temporarily without insurance, and those who have higher incomes, he arrived at what looks like just 7.8 million people who are "lower-income and long-term uninsured". Hoyt didn't disclose that to his readers.

4. And, of course, contrary to what Hoyt claims, the CRS has confirmed that illegal aliens would be able to obtain coverage under the House bill.

Mon, 08/31/2009 - 13:29 · · Importance: 4