Initially Waved Off, Hispanic Advocates Jump into Health Debate – Effort Centers on Ensuring Reform Doesn't Shortchange Immigrants

The Washington Post reported that: After trying to carefully balance their interests in health-care reform and immigration, the nation's Hispanic lawmakers and largest advocacy groups are scrambling to develop a strategy to counter what they see as efforts to shortchange immigrants in health bills on Capitol Hill. Many of them believe that a health-care overhaul is vital to their community, which is disproportionately uninsured and suffers from a host of chronic illnesses. But with the current bills excluding more than a million Hispanics – mostly legal immigrants – the debate runs into the issue of immigrants' rights.