Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.
As the government shutdown drags on, Republicans are accusing Democrats of, in the words of House Speaker Mike Johnson, “holding the American government HOSTAGE so they can give FREE health care to ILLEGAL ALIENS.”
North Carolina Republicans have posted or reposted similar claims more than a dozen times on social media.
“You deserve to not have your hard earned tax dollars go towards paying for the health care of illegals,” U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx wrote on X. “That’s what Democrats want.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Moore accused Democrats of “literally putting illegal immigrants first.” U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson said they “care more about illegal aliens getting healthcare than they do working families.”
But that’s not true.
It’s true that Democrats are holding out because they want to see changes to health care policy in the next congressional spending plan. But those changes do not include subsidizing health care for undocumented immigrants. In fact, federal law already prohibits undocumented immigrants from gaining any federally subsidized health care coverage, including under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are not seeking to change that. Rather, they are pushing to extend health care tax credits and to reverse the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed in July.
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