House Rejects Bill To Require Health Providers To Report Undocumented Patients To The Government

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Health Care

House rejects bill to require health providers to report undocumented patients to the government
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 18, No. 3, May 20, 2004

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on May 18, 2004, to reject HR 3722, a bill that among other things would have required health services providers to report undocumented non–U.S. citizen patients to immigration authorities as a condition of the providers receiving reimbursement from the federal government for emergency services administered to such patients. The Undocumented Alien Emergency Medical Assistance Amendments of 2004, sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), were defeated on a vote of 88 to 331.

During the floor debate, many House members, including Reps. Hilda Solis (D-CA), Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), David Dreier (R-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), spoke out against the bill. They argued that the legislation would further burden employers, hospitals, and health workers, and would be devastating for immigrant families and the U.S.’s public health system.

A transcript of the House debate and a tally of the final vote on HR 3722 is available at www.nilc.org.