With the health care debate in full swing in the U.S. Senate, there is much focus and attention being paid to access to abortion and rightfully so. My inbox is filled with petitions and requests to email Senators. Hell, even my 60 some year old mother says she wants to make sure she has access to an abortion. But so far there has been just one petition demanding that the undocumented should be able to purchase their own insurance with their own money (isn’t that what capitalism is all about?).

Recent polls show that overall Latinos are in favor of health care reform especially the public option.

Overall, Latino registered voters are very supportive of efforts to reform the nation’s health care system, and show especially strong support for including the ‘public option’ as part of the reform effort. While President Obama continues to enjoy strong support from the Latino electorate, less than 1 in 7 survey respondents felt the needs of the Hispanic community were fully taken into account during the health reform debate.

The undocumented are easy targets to cut in order to reach the oh so coveted 60 votes needed in the Senate in order for the health care reform bill to pass. “They” didn’t follow the rules. “They” shouldn’t be entitled to benefits (even if purchased with their own earned money-I still can’t wrap my head around that). But how to explain the denial of access to subsidized health care to documented immigrants? Those that followed the rules, as fucked up as they may be, are barred via a five-year waiting period from applying for Medicaid. Exceptions would be for pregnant women and children. But that’s about it. I wouldn’t expect any Senators to raise the issue of immigrant access to health care, unless we’re talking about more ways to limit access. Seems like the issue, even for Democrats, who keep telling Latinos to be patient and wait for immigration reform, health care reform, and hell let’s be real, just life reform, is just too damn controversial. The goal doesn’t seem to be a just health care system but rather one that can get 60 votes, even if it costs millions of lives.

Via / Latino Decisions