Hogai Nassery, AJC, Georgia SB 170, and muddled thinking
Dr. Hogai Nassery is a physician practicing in Chamblee, Georgia and she offers "State can't pass law, deny care to noncitizens" about that state's Senate Bill 170, which is similar to CA's Prop. 187 and Arizona's Prop. 200. As far as I know, it only deals with illegal aliens and not all non-citizens, thus the title is highly misleading. It starts out with this:
I planned to write about all of the pragmatic reasons to provide equal access to health care regardless of immigration status. The obvious reasons are that it's less expensive to provide prenatal care for an undocumented woman than to provide medical care for her premature infant and it's more economical to regulate a man's high blood pressure than to take care of him after a massive stroke.
If those people weren't here in the first place, the Mexican government would be forced to pay for them, and we wouldn't have to choose. That's the best way to deal with this issue. We bring that about by restricting services to illegal aliens, not by giving them more benefits. Remember: if you give people benefits, they'll not only stay, they'll bring their friends.
So, the good doctor is proposing something that will further increase Georgia's population of illegal aliens. It would be nice if she'd come right out and say that, but I'm sure most of her readers realize that.
After trying and failing to pull on our heart strings, she says:
Maybe one day, when our economy is less dependent on the undocumented labor force, the share of the pie that goes to their health care and education will diminish. For now, they are here because we hire them, and if you ask any South Georgia farmer or Atlanta contractor, they will tell you we need them.
Perhaps they should be paying for their healthcare then. Back in the slave days - or serf days in other countries - the plantation owners took care of all their workers' needs. Nowadays, they're able to pass the costs on to everyone else. Not only that, they've got a veritable army of useful idiot "liberals" to help them with their scheme.
Comments
eh (not verified)
Tue, 01/10/2006 - 03:24
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"Perhaps they should be paying for their healthcare then", "to pass the costs on to everyone else"
One wonders if the thinking goes that far.
Anyway, as a provider she probably has what is normally called a conflict of interest -- she stands to benefit, as those who cannot afford to pay her themselves will have their care paid for by taxpayers. But I don't really question her larger humanitarian motives.
Question: How many patients named Smith or Jones do you think Dr Hogai Nassery has?
Perhaps she was born in the US, perhaps not; if not, she almost certainly comes from a country that could use more people like her: intelligent, professional, a doctor.