Mon., Nov. 28
Who Gets Health Care?

Who Gets Health Care? 

Last month, a freshman Andover, Mass. lawmaker held up a budget bill to find out where Medicaid money is being spent in Massachusetts. Specifically, Rep. James Lyons, Jr. wanted to know how much MassHealth spends on undocumented residents. The Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services released those figures: total program costs of $9.5 billion, with $93 million - roughly one percent of costs - earmarked for "immigrants who have not provided documentation of qualified status."

Today we're taking a look at these figures - the cost to taxpayers, whether there should be "fallback insurance" for every resident, immigration challenges here and across the country, and what the real-life costs would be if we didn't. 

Guests: 

We want to hear from you - has a state insurance program gotten you through lean times? How hard is it to find coverage? Should our tax dollars be used to insure the poorest people? Does immigration status matter? Should the law be repealed? Amended? Or left as it is? Leave a comment on our Facebook page.