Many States Offering New Benefits to Illegal Immigrants, Washington Post Reports

Finding that "unequal treatment poses too great a threat to public order and safety," several states and cities have begun expanding benefits such as health care to undocumented immigrants, the Washington Post reports. With census figures putting the number of undocumented immigrants at six to nine million, communities are "grappling" with how to treat this population, proposing benefits that "would have been unthinkable" just a few years ago, according to the Post. Federal law bans undocumented immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits, but states may cover this population with their own funds. In Washington, D.C., a new health plan that offers free health services to low-income patients has included undocumented immigrants. In Maryland and Virginia, "many local governments" offer health care services to low-income patients without checking documentation, the Post reports. According to Ivan Walks, Washington, D.C.'s chief health officer, providing preventive care for undocumented immigrants "is much more cost-effective," because it reduces use of emergency rooms, where hospitals are obliged to treat undocumented patients and then absorb the cost (Sheridan, Washington Post, 8/1).