Illegal immigration and health care law collide

Somewhere between ISIS and Ebola or perhaps between the Secret Service fiasco and the continued flood of illegals crossing our southern border, stands the ongoing discussion on Obamacare.

Problems continue to plague the massive federal health-care system overhaul despite repeated assurances from the administration that all is going smoothly.

Ignore the amazingly scary pronouncement from the Affordable Health Care Act's chief architect that a lifespan of 75 years is sufficient and those who try to prolong their life through diet and exercise are "greedy."

Ignore the fact that millions of Americans will have their earned income credit tax refund seized by the feds for payment to Obamacare.

And by all means, ignore the phony promise of a $2,500 reduction in your insurance because that train has long left the station.

But it's hard to ignore the planned lawsuit against Obamacare by immigrant groups who are furious that more than 100,000 immigrants are being dropped from the program because they have failed to prove their legal status here.

Two immigrant group advocates -- one in Illinois and another in Philadelphia -- are filing suit because the notice of cancellation to these 100,000 immigrants was not in their native language.

Apparently, the language barrier was not an issue when they signed up for the free government health care. Come cancellation time however, they are now saying their civil rights were violated by the cancellation notices in English.

Apparently, some believe that requirement of citizenship status for Obamacare is illegal.

Of course, those same advocates believe that proving citizenship to vote is also somehow a violation of their civil rights. But that's another story for yet another day.

Surely you recall that this administration was determined to sign up as many undocumented immigrants as possible during the Obamacare rollout. The administration desperately needed the numbers, and undocumented immigrants were an easy target.

But when verification time rolled around, thousands of these new enrollees were unable to prove their legal status. And they viewed this petty point of citizenship as yet another civil rights violation.

The day will come when this boondoggle called Obamacare is dismantled piece by piece. And it won't be the work of Republicans. It will be the reality of economics.

We have yet to see the worst of Obamacare. But rest assured that day is coming.

All of the promises of this massive mistake have proven false. And all of the horror stories of rationed care and higher costs will come to fruition.

But first we apparently have to decide if those receiving our taxpayer-funded health care must be "forced" to prove they are citizens of this great country.

Now is that asking too much?

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.