Letter to the editor: Liechty wasn’t defending a broken immigrant system

Talk about it

A recent letter to The Jamestown Sun calls on Mayor Clarice Liechty to explain her comments regarding illegal immigrants getting health care. The writer then provides a list or horrors supposedly caused by illegal aliens. The gist of the letter is that Liechty must account for all these problems.

The mayor does not need to explain anything. I was at the town hall meeting where she asked her question. Video of the meeting is also online. Liechty — who spoke in her personal capacity — asked an obvious question that few people want to publicly address. Given the fact that people are here illegally and that some of them will need medical care, and given the fact that the health care reform proposals in Congress are not going to provide health care coverage to illegal aliens, what happens to them when they need care? She did not advocate for covering illegal aliens. She did not call for amnesty. She only asked a logical question about whether they will get care or be turned away and, implicitly, who pays for that care?

As a community leader, it is the type of question she should ask.

Presumably, Jamestown Hospital, like any other decent hospital, will not refuse care to someone who needs it, regardless of the patient’s legal status. If the patient cannot pay and Congress’ proposals will not help, the hospital and the community get stuck with the tab.

Liechty’s question was about the consequence of a broken immigration system, not a defense of it.

Christopher Dodson

Jamestown

Tags: health care, opinion, letters, immigrants, liechty