Wesley Smith writes for National Review Online about medical journal writers trading science for politics.

The latest New England Journal of Medicine contains two advocacy articles that essentially argue that the country should provide health care for illegal immigrants, no questions asked.

The first, discusses the 1.1 million elderly people with no legal right to be here, who as a result, do not qualify for Medicare or federal Medicaid funding, which the authors call “dual ineligibility.” The article argues that these illegal residents should be covered by Medicare if they paid taxes, but realizing that is a political nonstarter, urge a combination of strategies.

These range from states authorizing payments under Medicaid, to funding community health centers, to illegal elders being covered by their legal adult children’s health insurance.

But what the authors really want is to erase all distinctions between citizens and legal foreign residents and those here illegally when it comes to medical coverage. …

… The second column is even worse. It decries Texas for requiring that the costs of paying for the medical expenses of illegal aliens be calculated and reported. …

… One would think that kind of basic information would be important to understand in the creation of policies around coping with illegal immigration. But no. …

… As an example, the authors complain about a patient who had been living in Texas illegally who was detained after she sought medical care. Oh, the injustice! The fact that the woman was living under a false identity made not a dent on these “ethicists.”

Making matters worse, red states might follow Texas’s lead. …

… Sick people need care, to be sure. But they don’t have a right to sanctuary in obtaining it any more than would any other lawbreaker.

Adding to their support for illegality, the authors urge doctors to resist reporting laws.