Did Mitt Romney Subsidize Health Care for Illegals?

Did Mitt Romney Subsidize Health Care for Illegals?

24 Oct

By now you’ve probably heard the latest smear efforts by the extremists on the right and the left.  They want you to believe that  Governor Mitt Romney signed into law “subsidized health care for illegals” as part of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform law.  In the past twenty-four hours, that smear has been repeated by J.C. Watts, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingram and thousands of people on Twitter and Facebook .  There’s just one little problem with this little gem.   It’s a lie.

Romney did not sign those provisions of the Massachusetts Health Care reform bill.  In fact, he vetoed those provisions of the legislation, and the predominantly Democrat legislature promptly overrode his vetoes – all eight of them.
So, what part of the word “VETO” don’t these morons understand?  By definition, it means Romney did not “approve” or sign into law the provisions of the legislation that extended benefits to illegals.
Perhaps they simply need assistance looking up the actual law that was enacted by the Massachusetts legislature.  If that is the case, here is a link for the intellectually lazy.  If on the other hand, they aren’t intellectually lazy, but intellectually dishonest instead, here’s another link.
Let’s take a closer look at the appropriate parts of the actual law.  Note the bold, red print.  Guess what?  It’s bold and red in the actual law, too, just so stupid people won’t miss it.

Governor disapproved the following section, see H4857

The Legislature overrode the Governor’s veto
SECTION 27. Section 16D of said chapter 118E, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:?

(7) Notwithstanding subsection (3), a person who is not a citizen of the United States but who is either a qualified alien within the meaning of section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 or is otherwise permanently residing in the United States under color of law shall be eligible to receive benefits under MassHealth Essential if such individual meets the categorical and financial eligibility requirements under MassHealth; provided further that such individual is either age 65 or older, or between age 19 and 64, inclusive, and disabled. Such individual shall not be subject to sponsor income deeming or related restrictions.

Now, for the intellectually honest among us, let’s dissect the paragraph above, shall we?
Even if Romney had approved this section of the MA Health Care bill, where does it say that subsidies should be given to illegals?  A careful reading of the bill states that “qualified aliens” permanently residing in the United States (i.e. with a permanent resident visa – aka “green card”) or otherwise permanently residing in the US “under color of law” (meaning legally) will be eligible only if disabled (between age 19 and 64) or if they are 65 or older, regardless of disability.  And even so, Gov. Romney vetoed this provision.
In all, Governor Romney VETOED (please click here for a definition) eight sections of the Massachusetts Health Care reform bill.  They were sections 5, 27, 29, 47, 112, 113, 134 and 137 .

• SECTION 5.   – Structure of Public Health Council and other administrative bodies
• SECTION 27.  – Circumstances of eligibility of non-citizens
• SECTION 29.  – Covered services for adults in the MassHealth Essential program
• SECTION 47.  -  Chapter 149, Section 188 – Definitions
• SECTION 112.  – Medicare and Medicaid services negotiations
• SECTION 113.  – Changes to behavioral health services
• SECTION 134.  – Department of labor and the division of health reporting requirements
• SECTION 137.  – Public Health Council terms of office

So, let’s recap.  Governor Mitt Romney did not “sign into law” any provisions of the MA Health Care plan that extended subsidies to illegal aliens.  Anyone who says he did either doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “veto”, or is lying to you.   Decide for yourselves - are they stupid, or dishonest?

You can find the whole story HERE


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