Are (healthy) foreigners more valuable to us in their country than in ours?

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

That question is not at all rhetorical. If you look at the ongoing debates over healthcare for legal — note that word, legal, the issues about illegals are different — immigrants, you have to ask it. And answer it.

Those of you who think we should let Africans starve, or Afghan women get stoned for showing their hair, this post is not for you. But I ask the rest of you…

Why is it that so many people thoroughly support the idea that rich countries should offer foreign aid to poor ones, yet balk at the idea of helping people on our soil? We will let our tax dollars go to airlifting food or medicine to what used to be called Third World countries (what are they now? emerging or developing nations? I can’t keep up with PC-speak). In fact, many of us are outraged when we learn that there is still hunger or genocide or truly malevolent sexism in other countries, and call for the US and Europe to do something, quick.

And yet, a big sticking point in health care reform remains what to do about covering legal immigrants. Should they have to wait for five years before they can get Medicaid or Medicare? Should they have access to a public option, if it winds up existing, or to coverage from public exchanges, if that’s the way we go?

Good grief. How can these questions even be asked? If we let them in legally, we had a reason for doing so — either they have skills we need, or they’re married to one of our citizens, or they are escaping the kind of repressive regime that we spend billions trying to defeat. They are here with our blessing — and they are entitled to every benefit available.
Again, we provide it to them in their countries — we must provide it here.

I guess the analogy I draw is, if I haven’t invited you to a dinner party at my home, I will probably not let you in the door when you try to crash. But if you are legitimately my guest — either by my primary invite or brought as the significant other of someone else I invited — then you will be treated with the same hospitality as anyone else in that room. To differentiate among guests is unconscionably rude, either for a hostess or for a country.