Economists are advising Congress to get a move on with passing immigration reform because of the large costs associated with waiting for the provisions within the bill to be instituted. Last year, the Senate’s bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act was passed but since then, the process has failed to move forward.
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Economists and statisticians warn Congress that they are stunting economic growth and thousands of possible jobs that could help pull the nation out of the deficit. In addition to economic benefits, immigration would help improve financial stability of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund according to AmericanProgress.org.
This fund pays for health care services which are used by millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare. This trust fund is a crucial part of the Medicare structure that over 50 million Americans are enrolled in. The fund covers “inpatient hospital services, skilled nursing facility services, and home health care.” Because of the large baby boomer generation, the coming decades will produce more beneficiaries as people reach the age of 65. As a result of these demographic changes, the rising health care costs will cause the fund to be depleted by 2026.
One of the easiest solutions to this dismal fact is using immigration reform and charge payroll tax rates to ensure the trust fund never completely runs out. Immigration reform is not only beneficial in the long run, but it will provide immediate financial relief. According to new studies, if immigration reform goes well based off the new bill being considered by Congress, the date of depletion of the trust fund will be extended and “Our analysis demonstrates that undocumented immigrants will pay more in payroll taxes than they will receive in benefits under the trust fund and would extend the solvency of the HI Trust Fund by four years.”
Beyond that, immigrants are expected to completely change the scenario of where the U.S. is going through the legalization of millions of workers. Economists hope this happens sooner than later so that the U.S. can start seeing the benefits of reform right away.
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