The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123258   Message #2718058
Posted By: artbrooks
07-Sep-09 - 10:59 AM
Thread Name: BS: US Health Care Reform
Subject: RE: BS: US Health Care Reform
Well, I'm not sure what the Heller Amendment actually says, but the House Bill, as sort-of agreed upon by the three committees working on it, specifically forbids "individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States" from receiving benefits.

Citizenship is not "confirmed at birth". Citizenship upon birth is granted by Article XIV, Section 1 of the US Constitution. Good luck getting a constitutional amendment to change that.

E-verify relies on the validity of records of the Social Security system. Those records are screwed up beyond belief. For example, consider Mary Smith, who has a SSN under that name and who marries John Jones. If she doesn't notify immediately SSA, or if SSA doesn't, for whatever reason, update her records, e-verify will reject her if she is screened under the name Mary Jones. E-verify also will not detect if someone else is using Mary's name and SSN. No, if it is necessary for anyone (or everyone) to be positively identified, the US needs to start issuing national, unforgeable, ID cards - perhaps with both fingerprints and retina scans on them. We need to stop confusing a record of having taken a driving examination with an identification card. I've carried a government (military) ID card since I was 12...can't see that it has harmed me any.