No Cost?

Source: ajc

In our ongoing series dealing how much our "cheerful invaders" cost us as they allegedly keep our prices low-low-low! We find this article by Mike King in the AJC where he makes two points, one astonishing and one ridiculous.

Astonishing!

Medicaid covers special emergency services for illegal immigrants, a program that costs more than $100 million annually in Georgia. Otherwise, they do not qualify for Medicaid.

Ridiculous!

Around the country, according to health care officials, U.S. citizens are having trouble getting Medicaid because of new regulations requiring birth certificates or other official documents. *snip*

Several states have reported a decline in Medicaid enrollment they believe can be traced directly to the new rules, which went into effect last year.*snip*

As the conflict over Georgia's voter ID law shows, providing official ID can sometimes be difficult for poor people, many of whom don't have driver's licenses, bank accounts or credit references.

Obvious observation number 1: How do they know the folks getting bumped off the list aren't illegal aliens? The very folks that the law intended to be bumped off the list.

Obvious observation number 2: Does anybody else buy this assertion that these alleged "poor people" can't afford a state ID? I find this ridiculous on its face. I attempted to call the Georgia DMV but it's after five there and they be long gone so I surfed over to their web site.

They state of Georgia offers a free ID card for voting purposes. Now obviously I don't know if that would be acceptable to use as ID to get Medicare benefits, but let's look at what it would cost the average citizen to get a license.

If you didn't have your birth certificate that's $10.

The cost of obtaining a driver's license in Georgia is:

$20 for five years

Or

$35 for ten years.

So the total cost would be on the order of $30 to $45 dollars.

Now, I have been broke in my past and was always able to scrape together enough money to maintain a driver's license. I just have a hard time believing that amount of money is a crushng burden in this day and age.

But I could be wrong, what say you?

H/T Dusty Inman

Technorati Tags: illegal immigration, georgia, medicare, drivers license