Victoria Colliver reports in today's Comical that controversy over immigrants - really the right wing revival of the Know Nothing movement - now threatens health reform.

Because if the government contributes to support health care it will wind up paying for care for illegal immigrants.

Now Wonks Anonymous would like to point out to these folks that we are already paying for medical care for illegal aliens and will continue to do so unless we force doctors and hospitals to run an immigration status check and refuse care to anyone who cannot prove their legal immigration status. Wonks Anonymous has already made this proposal elsewhere.

This would not raise our nation in the estimation of the civilized world and might well be bad for tourism.

Well, if people are really angry about illegals getting "free" care and about the "unfairness" of our tax system to the rich - wah, wah, wah - Wonks Anonymous is prepared to give a major point:

Wonks Anonymous is a progressive kind of guy and he thinks that rich people should pay more in taxes than poor people but he is prepared to finance national health reform with a national value added tax. We could probably pay for the whole show - platinum plans for everyone - with a few pennies on the dollar additional sales tax. We would need to do the thing sensibly, which means restrictive regulation on health insurers or a strong public option, but we could do it.

And if we did it that way people who wanted to deny care based on immigration status would have no moral ground to stand on whatsoever. Everybody buys things and everybody who buys things pays the sales tax. Therefore everybody, tourists, citizens and illegal immigrants will pay for health care. If they paid for it they should get it. End of argument.

It is that important.