Just in case you thought that state budget deficits caused by the ruinous Bush deficit/ending of the Clinton bubble (delete where applicable to suit your political taste) were somewhat academic, read this report on Colorado’s decision to remove legal immigrants from Medicaid eligibility.

I strive to be neutral in this blog, but on this issue I’m very biased. I’m a US citizen now, but I was a legal immigrant for many years.  The only difference between being a green card holder and a citizen is that you can’t vote or do jury duty. Importantly you still pay the same taxes as every one else and presumably these Medicaid patients did too. It also looks that some workaround will be discovered to pay for their care, maybe. However, aside from the politics, the fact that the state is desperate enough to consider putting some 150 elderly nursing home residents out on the street, shows that this crisis in funding is real.