The GOP’s False Healthcare Narrative: Who Really Loses

By Emma Young, writer, community activist, free spirit

The Democrats are trying to save healthcare - Medicaid, Medicare, etc. & SNAP. The GOP lie is they are trying to give illegal immigrants healthcare. Undocumented immigrants are not eligiblle for Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP or any program.

ChatGPT is a culmination of everything that has been written on any particular subject & it separates fact from fiction. Therefore, when asked, ChatGPT is not going to give any fake data. So I asked ChatGPT for a comparison between African Americans receiving health care versus undocumented immigrants. For those who can handle the truth, here are the facts:

Why a direct numeric comparison is nearly impossible

1. Different legal eligibility: Undocumented immigrants are largely excluded from federal programs; African Americans (as U.S. citizens or legal residents) are eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, ACA subsidies, etc.

2. “Free health care” is vague: For immigrants it mostly means emergency care or state/local patchwork programs; for African Americans it might mean Medicaid, Medicare, or ACA subsidies.

3. Overlap issues: Some African Americans may also be undocumented immigrants (though that is a much smaller number) — but in general the populations are distinct, and data are not cross tabulated in this manner.

What the data say about undocumented immigrants and health care access

• Undocumented immigrants are largely ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA marketplaces.

• Nationally, many undocumented immigrants remain uninsured: as of 2023, about 50% of likely undocumented immigrant adults reported having no insurance.

• Some undocumented immigrants do have private health insurance (e.g., through employment) or receive care via community health centers.

• A study cited in advocacy literature estimates undocumented immigrants account for 1.4% of U.S. total health care spending, despite being an estimated ~5% of the population. So, the fraction of undocumented immigrants receiving publicly subsidized or “free” care is modest—and mostly in limited, emergency, or state-program contexts.

What the data say about African Americans and health care access / public coverage

• African Americans (nonelderly) have lower uninsured rates than many undocumented immigrants but still higher than some other groups. In 2023, the uninsured rate for Black people under age 65 was about 9.7 %.

• Many Black Americans receive public insurance (Medicaid, Medicare, etc.). For example, among Black people, a significant portion have public health insurance as opposed to solely private coverage.

• Among the uninsured African Americans, many are eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or financial assistance under the ACA, depending on their income and state decisions.

• The uninsured rate among Black Americans fell from ~20.9% in 2010 to ~10.8% in 2022.

Thus, many African Americans do participate in public or subsidized health care, though not universally.

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Now, this is me, not ChatGPT :

Let me repeat in case you missed it: -undocumented immigrants count for 1.4% of the total United States health care spending. That means that the majority of the 13 MILLION Americans that will lose their health benefits under the GOP budget will be African Americans.

That 1.4% is not for Medicaid, Medicare or ACA - it's mostly for emergency room services because by law no one can be turned away from ER.

So MAGA is cheering on 13 Million Americans losing their healthcare benefits, and another 4 Million losing their SNAP benefits - just to insure that illegal immigrants don't get any health care benefits that they don't get anyway, and won't ever get because federal law doesn't allow undocumented immigrants to receive healthcare benefits - & because they can't be turned away from the emergency rooms, they will continue to receive that 1.4 percent of the total spending.

The Democrats are fighting the EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS the GOP budget is taking out of MEDICAID. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CANNOT RECEIVE MEDICAID, OR MEDICARE, OR ACA PERIOD!