The action forced states and localities to fill the funding gap. The issue, however, remains divisive. Opponents have said that rising illegal immigration has strained the health care system. In recent months, elected officials have tried to restrict immigrant access to public health benefits amid rising costs and concerns about terrorism.
In Maryland last month, a bill to deny benefits to non-U.S. citizens -- including those legally residing and working in the state -- was withdrawn, but only after heavy opposition. Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) signed a measure last week that tightens existing laws barring legal immigrants 19 and older from receiving Medicaid and public assistance. The legislation requires state and local governments to verify that anyone who seeks non-emergency care is in the country legally.
Abdul Karim Chowdhury, 89, and wife Zahida Banoo, 75, who moved to Maryland from Bangladesh, leave the Silver Spring clinic after receiving care.
(Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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For Muslims, there is the additional anxiety of living in a time of suspicion, when thousands of them, mostly legal immigrants, are questioned, deported, detained or subject to a special registration under security measures imposed after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
At the Muslim clinic, treatment hinges on a single question: Are you insured?
The care offered has limits. There is no operating room or sophisticated diagnostic equipment, such as a CAT scan machine. Serious ailments or specialized care are outsourced to doctors willing to provide discounted service -- or, if it is an emergency, to public health facilities.
Corraya arrived in Maryland 18 years ago. A father of six, he spent seven years in the restaurant business before becoming a bank teller. Along the way, he experienced heart problems, diabetes and high blood pressure. Last year, he lost his job and insurance, he said.
When Qadri examined him at the clinic that day, he was shocked by Corraya's condition. Qadri dispatched him to the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, which has a medical assistance program for low-income immigrants. "He did not know he was having a stroke," Qadri said.
For Qadri, every success is a step toward closing a bigger wound that he said has festered in his community since the terrorist attacks transformed their adopted homeland.
"In America, 9/11 has done us the worst disservice. It still hurts us," Qadri said. "We feel a part of America and we'd like to do more.
"This is one of the ways."
