Congressional Radicals Prioritize Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants Over Fixing Emergency Rooms

Washington, D.C—Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Matthew Schmid, Health and Harvest Campaign Director, regarding the ongoing government shutdown:

“Radicals in Congress are holding the government hostage to undo the Working Families Tax Credit’s (WFTC) reforms to the Medicaid emergency care system. One major cause of overcrowded Emergency Rooms is the misuse of ERs as primary care clinics for illegal aliens.

Instead of reserving ERs for true emergencies, federal Medicaid funding has been exploited to provide routine care to illegal aliens in emergency settings. This creates long lines, overworked hospital staff, and delays care for Americans with genuine medical emergencies.

The WFTC made an important reform by shifting some funding responsibility to states, incentivizing them to better manage their emergency care systems and closing the loophole that allowed this abuse. Now, bad actors in Congress want to undo that progress—and they are using a government shutdown as leverage to make it happen.

Americans deserve a healthcare system and a Congress that serve them first.”