CMS Nominee Brooks-LaSure Encourages Anchor Babies

Monday, March 15, 2021 // Research

Who are the patients Brooks-LaSure would put first…those who are in this country illegally.


Chiquita Brooks-LaSure is Biden’s nominee to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She was nominated to the Senate on February 22, 2021, where she currently awaits a hearing in the Senate Committee on Finance led by Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-IN).

Earlier research found that in her current role as Managing Director at Manett Health Strategies, Brooks-LaSure advocated for government healthcare to illegal aliens. She was also on the payroll of the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

New investigations reaffirm that Brooks-LaSure is a political ideologue focused on destroying the fundamental fabric of our nation by diverting government resources away from American men, women, and children in favor of illegal aliens.

Gov’t Health Coverage to Allow Anchor Babies

Anchor babies are the children of illegal aliens who are born in the U.S. Their parents use the birth of a child to circumvent immigration laws or receive government services, including healthcare. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) explains the incentives for illegal aliens to give birth in the United States:

“An anchor baby is defined as an offspring of an illegal immigrant or other non-citizen, who under current legal interpretation becomes a United States citizen at birth. These children may instantly qualify for welfare and other state and local benefit programs…the child may sponsor other family members for entry into the United States when he or she reaches the age of twenty-one.

FAIR also explains the costs, “…funds that state and local governments must provide to anchor babies amounts to a virtual tax on U.S. citizens to subsidize illegal aliens.”

In a brief for State Health and Value Strategies at Princeton University, co-author Brooks-LaSure prescribes ways that Medicaid can pay for the healthcare of illegal aliens who give birth to anchor babies:

Medicaid Strategies to Improve Maternal Health

1.3. Cover Otherwise Ineligible Immigrant Women through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

“For pregnant women who are undocumented, states may use what is often referred to as the CHIP “unborn child” option to cover prenatal care and labor and delivery, but have less flexibility for covering comprehensive postpartum care. Under this option, states may cover only postpartum care services when they are reimbursed via a bundled labor and delivery fee payment (e.g., the labor and delivery fee may include outpatient office visits for a predetermined period of time or contraceptive care provided to the mother immediately following delivery).”

Meanwhile, the CMS website describes its mission toward the American people in the following way:

https://www.cms.gov/ — accessed 3/15/21

Who are the patients Brooks-LaSure will put first? Her past work and statements demonstrate that it will be those who are in this country illegally.

Brooks-LaSure is not an apolitical civil servant as she seemed to claim in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in June 2019 where she described herself as, “…a former Obama administration official who worked on implementing the ACA.” Rather, she is a progressive political operative who uses any opportunity to advance her radical agenda.

Exploiting COVID-19

In an article published in October 2020 by Health Law Daily, Brooks-LaSure used the COVID-19 pandemic as a cudgel to attack opponents of the ACA:

“[t]his public health crisis has highlighted the underlying cracks in our health system, including the fact that millions of low-income individuals have no access to coverage because their states have not expanded Medicaid.”

As already shown, when Brooks-LaSure refers to “individuals with no access to coverage” she means “illegal aliens” and when she says, “expand Medicaid” she means “expand Medicaid for illegals.”

Under the guise of compassion for the most vulnerable Americans suffering during the pandemic, Brooks-LaSure clarifies that “healthcare inequities” exist for illegal aliens and their future anchor babies (emphasis added):

“For example, Brooks-LaSure points out that when it comes to inequities in maternal care, states have the ability to shape policy related to who is covered, the duration of their coverage, the benefits they receive, and the delivery system through which they receive care. State Medicaid agencies can also partner with sister agencies to use their purchasing power to drive broader policy and cultural change to improve maternal health outcomes. Brooks-LaSure, in conjunction with other experts at Manatt Health, has detailed policy and strategy levers that Medicaid agencies can employ to improve material heath outcomes and address outcome disparities in a State Health and Value Strategies issue brief.

Furthermore, in the same Ways and Means hearing, she made clear her view that state-based initiatives need ample assistance from the Federal level:

“Under current rules, some of these State options may also require States to obtain Federal waivers for tax credit funding or plan design. In conclusion, Federal-based options have some clear advantages, given the role of the Federal Government in subsidizing coverage under Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.”

The overwhelming pattern shown by Brooks-LaSure is that she is more interested in using political influence and power to advance an ideological agenda which will prioritize government resources for illegal aliens over her fellow citizens.

Now, instead of limiting her radical policies toward individual state governments, Brooks-LaSure is nominated to be Administrator of CMS where she can implement her dangerous ideas at the national level.