But what’s often overlooked is that a Medicaid program annually provides $2 billion of free emergency care to patients, most of whom are illegal immigrants.

In trying to garner support for the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the administration and those supporting the law promised that illegal immigrants would not gain coverage from the new healthcare legislation. But what many don’t realize is that for decades, illegal immigrants have been receiving free healthcare under the Emergency Medicaid program, Kaiser Health News reports.

The health insurance program pays for $2 billion of annual emergency treatment for patients consisting mostly of illegal immigrants. Since hospitals are not allowed to turn away patients with an emergency medical condition, they frequently treat illegal immigrants, many of which appear in emergency rooms for help delivering a baby.