Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Insurance Oversight Director Gary Cohen told members of Congress last Thursday at a House Ways and Means Committee that anyone "lawfully present" inside the United States would qualify for Obamacare subsidies even if they are not citizens.
During the hearing, committee member Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) asked Cohen to define 'lawfully present,' Cohen replied "Well, you could be here on a student visa and be eligible," he said.
Based on his answer, Cohen confirmed that the Obama administration plans to use U.S. taxpayer resources to give Obamacare subsidies to foreigners in the country on student visas and travel visas.
Gerlach followed up again with a hypothetical scenario: “Somebody comes here to the United States on a travel visa, has a visa for a certain period of time, a number of months, and perhaps wants to stay longer, will that person be able to apply for tax subsidized insurance coverage while here?”
“If they overstay the visa, then no,” Cohen answered.
“But they can apply while they’re here legally, lawfully?” Gerlach clarified.
“I believe so, yes,” Cohen replied.
The Senate's 'Gang of Eight' bill gives "Registered Provisional Immigrant" to all illegal aliens in the United States. If the Senate bill becomes law, it would be unclear if the Obama administration could provide Obamacare subsidies for noncitizens with RPI status.
A GOP aide told Breitbart News that more things similar to this exist in the Senate bill. “The congressman made a good catch of course and this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we’d expect to come out of a conference with the Senate bill," the aide said.
For more information, read the story at Breitbart News.
Updated: Wed, Aug 14th 2013 @ 11:01am EDT