1. This “loophole” that you’re talking about applies to all people who enter any hospital that takes medicare/medicaid (not the ones that don’t), regardless of immigration status. Even you! For this, you can thank Ronald Reagan, that bleeding heart liberal who signed into law a provision stating that emergency rooms have to care for anyone that needs it.
2. The treatment received will still be billed to you. If you are indigent and move around a lot, perhaps you can escape the bill collectors. This is true, again, no matter your immigration status. It’s why so many people go bankrupt over medical care – because of how hard it is to “just walk away from it” and “get your care for free.”
3. We can also thank GWBush (another bleeding-heart liberal) for signing the law that states that the hospitals will be compensated something for the bills that people go bankrupt over and can’t pay. This is the “at taxpayer’s expense” part that you’re talking about.
4. Interestingly, illegals use less health care (it’s really a tiny fraction of a percent) because they tend to be fitter than most Americans.
5. Hopefully, this article from Politifact will reassure you that neither the Senate nor House versions of the health care reform bill will provide free health care for anyone, regardless of immigration status.
6. The House version of the bill would mandate that Illegals buy health insurance just like everybody else, but they would not be eligible for the subsidies that citizens could get. So in a way, the Illegals would be subsidizing the rest of us. The Senate bill bars Illegals entirely from obtaining coverage.
So, assuming some version of health care reform does get signed into law (hasn’t happened yet), it would seem that any compromise version of the House and Senate bills would not provide for free care for anyone. It’s unclear as to how the older laws about indigent care at hospitals would be affected.