Illegals haunt McCain

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is backing the renewal of a $250 million-a-year program that will pay illegal immigrants’ hospital bills.

The very idea that McCain is again supporting a program that some view as rewarding illegal immigrants is certain to attract attention from the same conservatives he’s trying to win over for the White House.

{mosads}The measure, which would reimburse hospitals for the cost of treating illegal immigrants, has broad support from both parties, including from some immigration hardliners and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

Even some of McCain’s toughest critics on immigration admit it is a relatively benign program. But McCain’s association with it underscores his rift on immigration with the right wing, which sees him as championing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

“It’s another reminder that he’s ‘Amnesty John,’ ” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, who nevertheless has no major objection to the proposal. “It’s another reminder of his role in promoting not just amnesty but promoting illegal immigration in the first place.”

An aide to McCain said the Arizona Republican stands by his position.

Federal law forbids hospitals from turning anyone away from emergency rooms, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay for care. Hospitals have been complaining for a decade about the increasing financial burden they bear treating illegal immigrants. Congress responded by creating this funding stream in 2003; it is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year.

McCain is not alone in supporting the program. Sens. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), who are illegal immigration hardliners, also support it.

Yet McCain sponsored legislation with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would offer a path to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. This damaged his credibility with conservatives, and they do not trust him on the issue.

Though the bill did not pass, many conservatives view the McCain-Kennedy legislation as a black mark on McCain’s record.

McCain adopted a harder stance on the campaign trail as his primary opponents painted him as soft on the issue. Since he emerged from the field as the GOP’s presumptive nominee, McCain has steered clear of immigration whenever possible.

Some staunch immigration reformers detest the hospital-funding program as a giveaway to lawbreakers. Conservatives like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) maintain that hospitals should be required to ask patients about their immigration status to identify people in the country illegally.

The hospital industry and many lawmakers, especially those from border states, say the funding is critical to keep the facilities open. Hospitals and ambulance services in Southwest border states provided more than $200 million in free emergency care to illegal immigrants in 2000, according to a study commissioned by Congress.

{mospagebreak}The hospitals strongly oppose being required to inquire about immigration status on ethical grounds, saying questions  would discourage sick and injured people from seeking medical care. “Our mission is to take care of patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, citizenship, etc.,” American Hospital Association spokesman David Allen wrote in an e-mail.

McCain and Obama were among the 15 senators who signed a May 16 letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asking that the program be extended for two years. McCain’s home-state colleague Sen. Jon Kyl (R) led the effort.

The funding, the letter states, “is vital to our states’ healthcare safety net, helping hospitals, physicians and ambulances provide federally mandated emergency services to undocumented immigrants.” Arizona’s allocation from the illegal immigrant program for fiscal year 2008 is $44.7 million, second only to California’s $72.2 million.

{mosads}“We believe the letter speaks for itself on the specific issue,” said a spokesman in McCain’s Senate office. “Sen. McCain’s view on this issue remains the same.”

Kyl championed this funding stream when Congress passed it in 2003 and was responsible for securing the money for the border counties’ study. Kyl, among the chamber’s sharpest critics of illegal immigration, nevertheless joined McCain and Kennedy in 2007 to help draft the comprehensive immigration bill that ultimately failed. He does not favor changes to the hospital reimbursement program, according to a spokesman.

The hospital funding issue is far from a major one for conservative immigration reformers, but McCain’s involvement gives it a different tenor, agreed Krikorian and Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

“It’s just one letter on one issue anyway,” Kirkorian said.

“This is not a burning issue at the moment,” Mehlman said.

It could still be trouble for McCain, Krikorian said. For immigration hawks, Krikorian said, “It’s, ‘There he goes again.’ ” The McCain-Kennedy bill included an extension of the hospital funding through fiscal 2011.

Taxpayers have a right to be upset that they are financing medical care for illegal immigrants, Mehlman contended. Moreover, hospitals are getting this money with no strings attached. “It seems rather one-sided for hospitals” because they do not have to collect and provide information about immigration status to help law enforcement agencies identify illegal immigrants, he said. “If they can [collect information] when the insurance company’s paying, why can’t they do it for the taxpayer?”

Krikorian, however, said he does not object to the federal government compensating the hospitals for treating illegal immigrants. “I would have to agree with McCain and Obama on this one,” he said. “If the federal government is going to fail in its responsibility to patrol the border, then it makes sense” to set aid money to institutions like hospitals that provide services to illegal immigrants, he said.

“Sen. Obama believes it is the responsibility of the federal government, not emergency room nurses and doctors, to enforce immigration law, and that treating those with disease, regardless of immigration status, is necessary as a matter of public health,” according to a statement issued by his Senate office. Illinois’s $10.3 million allocation for the current fiscal year is the fourth-highest among the states.

Neither Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign nor her Senate office responded to a request for comment on the hospital-funding program.