On Friday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) responded to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying that taxpayers have to foot the bill for emergency care for illegal immigrants and that California has had issues with illegal immigrants in the health system by saying that “pretty much anything that Karoline Leavitt says I wouldn’t take at face value for one, but it’s very clear what this fight is over, and it’s not about undocumented immigrants getting health care.”
Host Connell McShane played video of Leavitt saying, “In Southern California, according to healthcare professionals in 2023, under the Biden administration, Southern California’s, quote, entire healthcare system was being bombarded with illegal immigrants and forcing American patients to endure longer wait times. … So, an illegal alien goes to the emergency room. Who’s paying for it? The American taxpayer.”
Levin responded, “Well, pretty much anything that Karoline Leavitt says I wouldn’t take at face value for one, but it’s very clear what this fight is over, and it’s not about undocumented immigrants getting health care. It’s about Americans, American citizens being able to afford the health care they already have. That’s what we’re talking about right now. And, in California, the estimates are 660,000 Californians are going to be priced out of the health insurance market if we can’t get these tax credits figured out. And notices are going out now, people are going to be receiving notices in their mailbox in California on October 15, the Kaiser Family Foundation has said that the average premium will go from $888 a year to $1,904 a year. And, in their example, a couple, a 60-year-old couple making 85 grand are going to pay an extra $22,600 in their premiums next year. So, you’re going to see a lot of people who are going to have to just not be able to afford the care at all. And that is going to drive up the costs for everybody, that is going to clog those emergency rooms of people who are relying on acute care rather than preventative care. And, look, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the ACA or not, that’s going to impact all of our health insurance.”
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