Immigrants have helped pay the nation’s bills, at least when it comes to health care, according to a new report. Immigrants contributed over $182 billion to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund between 1996 and 2011, according to a study released by the Partnership for a New American Economy, a group which advocates for immigration reform.
The study found during that same 15-year period, U.S.-born citizens produced a $68.7 billion deficit for the same fund. On average, immigrants to the U.S. contributed over $11 billion more to the fund than was spent on their care. The study also found that if immigrants were not making these large contributions, the trust fund would likely run out of money three years earlier than it is currently predicted to become insolvent.
The Partnership for a New American Economy, a coalition of mayors and business leaders started by Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch, also includes among its co-chairs former San Antonio Mayor and current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro and Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter. According to the Partnership’s report, the findings on immigrant’s contributions to entitlement programs run contrary to immigration reform critic’s view that increased levels of immigration will burden the nation’s safety net.
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— Jacob Passy
