Securing Health Insurance

A CASUAL perusal of the advertising pages of the Irish Voice every week reveal a flood of benefit events to help those in the community who have no health insurance.

Though the Irish community gives early and often to such worthy fundraisers, the reality is that the overwhelming cost of the medical bills is such that the person affected is unable to pay.

Sometimes the person is left in a very bad way indeed, with huge medical expenses and no obvious way to pay them.

Often times, if the person affected is married, it can affect families deeply and lead to a horrendous situation where life savings can be wiped out almost overnight because of medical bills.

It is a tragic situation and one made worse by a host of misinformation in the community, often spread by rumors, that there is nothing that an undocumented person here can do about obtaining health insurance.

Of course, rumor is a common currency in the community. Just a few weeks ago a story swept through the neighborhoods that two FBI agents were specifically designated to Ireland-bound flights to discover if any passengers were traveling illegally. Such nonsense, unfortunately, is the stuff of urban legend and often repeated.

Health insurance is a complicated area, but it is definitely not true to state that a person here undocumented cannot obtain insurance for himself or his family.

There is also a mistaken belief that only a person whose employer is prepared to pay a hefty part of the medical insurance can be covered under American law. That, too, is a mistake.

There are many in the community working in high paying jobs, such as construction, who never bother to check out the reality of getting such insurance. The cost is not cheap, but it is certainly better than allowing oneself to remain uninsured because alternatives were never investigated.

It is similar in a way to the reality about securing a green card. A good immigration lawyer will say there is more than one way to skin a cat and that many people, given the proper knowledge, can find a way to legally reside in the United States. That is a point stressed by former Congressman Bruce Morrison, author of the Morrison visas, and the best friend the Irish have ever had on this issue.

Morrison is firmly of the belief that many more Irish could become legal if they would just take the time and pay a reputable immigration lawyer to explore their possibilities.

Equally, with health insurance, it is important to find out what the options are. It is important to note that health insurance and immigration are not connected in any way, and that a valid Social Security number, which most health companies desire, is not an insurmountable obstacle.

The immigration centers in New York and Boston and in other major cities are well equipped to deal with the health issue and are certainly worth consulting on this problem.

There are many who are only prepared to bemoan their lack of status and not look up any of the perfectly legal ways to acquire health insurance. 

One only has to look at the Irish Voice these days to see what great difficulty many hard-working families end up in because of the lack of insurance. Surely it is worth taking the time to discuss the issue with experts in the community before believing that nothing can be done. It is something that can only help, rather than hinder, and may prove to be an invaluable experience.