RUSH: Now, we’ve talked recently about Governor Schwarzenegger and his effort here to cut — his suggestion to cut welfare benefits for American citizens. Now, I don’t want to get into an argument here about welfare being good or bad because he may be able to make the case that what he’s trying out there is California’s version of welfare reform that was done nationally. He?s promised to reduce welfare benefits for American citizens in order to pay to extend health care insurance to illegals and their children. Now get this. This is from the Seattle Times. ?Republican lawmakers are protesting a proposal by Gov. Christine Gregoire and Democratic lawmakers to expand state-funded health coverage for children of illegal immigrants. ?They’re not even citizens,? said Rep. Bill Hinkle of Cle Elum, the ranking Republican on the House Health Care and Wellness Committee. Hinkle said it doesn’t make sense to cover illegal immigrants when there are so many other shortcomings in the state’s health-care system.
?This just drives folks back home nuts,? he said. But the move is drawing widespread praise from hospitals, doctors and children’s advocates. ?In our opinion, every child should have medical coverage and be able to get medical care,? said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children’s Alliance. ?We shouldn’t play politics with children.? Cassie Sauer, spokeswoman for the Washington State Hospital Association, said hospitals are required to treat any child who comes in with a medical emergency. If that child happens to be an uninsured immigrant, the costs simply get passed on as a ?hidden tax? to other patients who have insurance, she said. It’s far less expensive, Sauer said, to include those kids in health programs that provide basic preventive care, such as immunizations.?
Now, the reaction to this is, if yours is, ?What the hell?? is quite understandable and normal. What the hell is going on here? Well, I’ll tell you what the hell is going on here, folks, it is time for us to face it. Politicians, for now in California and the state of Washington, are selling out American citizens for illegal aliens. It certainly appears to this correspondent, to this reporter, to this commentator, to this celebrity, certainly appears to me, that they care more for Mexico’s citizens and children than they do American citizens and children whom they are supposed to represent. Again, I don’t want to have an argument about welfare, but if you’re going to cut welfare to Americans to give health care to Mexicans who are not legal citizens, what the hell are we to conclude?
The same thing here in the state of Washington. Then you?ve got the deputy director of the Children’s Alliance saying, ?We shouldn’t play politics with children.? And then the spokesman for the hospital association saying, ?Hey, it would be cheaper.? Be cheaper? How in the world does that add up? All these people talk about a zero-sum game. I know a little math here. How in the world is it cheaper to extend health insurance to everybody, particularly illegals who don’t have it? ?Now, Mr. Limbaugh, it’s because they’re required by law to treat them in the emergency room when they show up anyway, and that cost has to be passed on.? Oh, so that cost is no longer going to occur? ?That’s right, Mr. Limbaugh, because they’re all going to have healthcare.? Well, who the hell is going to pay that, Mr. New Castrati? As my friend the rabbi says, ?Oy!?