English First

·        For healthcare, the bill pushes a taxpayer-funded entitlement to foreign language translation, essentially seeking to enshrine infamous Executive Order 13166 into federal statute.

·        An entitlement – the mandate – to have the taxpayers pay for proper translation of complex medical jargon into any and every language would create a huge financial burden.

·        A translation mandate would create massive legal liability that taxpayers would have to fund.

·        The mandate would insert the government between you and your doctor yet one more time.

·        For liberals, this bill solves their problem of repeated court rejections of their claim that foreign language translation is mandated by the 1964 Civil Rights law “on the basis of national origin.”  This bill would  replace that fallacious argument with a new, bona fide statutory basis for foreign language translations.

·        The bill has at least four major federally funded provisions, with a clear eye toward expansion:

1.      Section 144 mandates ombudsman operation in every foreign language;

2.      Section 204 mandates that all health benefits plans must provide translation into every foreign language;

3.      Section 1222 commences a Medicare demonstration program, clearly intended to become permanent for “the entire Medicare program,” to provide “free interpreter and translation services…to each patient with limited English proficiency at all points of contact, in a timely manner during all hours of operation.”

4.      Section 1223 mandates a report on how translation spending affects translation recipients.  The report surely will say, “Government spending is good; more taxpayer funding would be better.”  Bureaucrats basically would be funded to think up ways to have more bureaucrats.

5.      Section 1224 makes clear that “interpreting” means “faithfully, accurately, and objectively,” thereby creating three bases for suing the government translation program—the taxpayers. 

      6.      Section 1224 also mandates signage in foreign languages.

·        Foreign language translation in every healthcare plan is a huge unfunded mandate.

·        Operating a complaint center in every foreign language will cost plenty.

·        Medicare foreign language translation would be a huge taxpayer cost.

·        To do so faithfully, accurately, objectively, at all points of contact, in a timely manner, during all hours of operation will cost a fortune.

·        Imagine if the foreign language translation were to omit something, were inaccurate, were to lean arguably for or against a procedure, were to occur at only some points of contact, were to be delayed, or were unavailable in the middle of the night or at any point in time – you can envision the massive lawsuits, potentially class action lawsuits.

·        The services may include document translation.

·        The foreign language translation mandate really creates a new field of medical malpractice liability.

·        This mandate would mean hiring tens of thousands of additional employees as translators and interpreters.

·        The cost to taxpayers at all levels of government could easily total tens of billions of dollars.

·        The American Medical Association (AMA) warns that mandated translation could create serious access problems, even for people with limited English proficiency.