New York, Faulting U.S., Says It Will Pay for Cancer Care for Illegal Immigrants

“Gov. Eliot Spitzer, stepping into a brewing battle between federal and state health officials over emergency medical care for illegal immigrants, called a new federal directive to limit coverage “morally and clinically and legally wrong” yesterday and said he was prepared to sue the federal government over it.

Federal health officials have told New York State that they will no longer help cover the cost of chemotherapy for illegal immigrants with cancer because it does not qualify under an emergency Medicaid program. But yesterday, state health officials said they would cover all the costs no matter what the federal government does.

The state health commissioner, Richard F. Daines, who joined Mr. Spitzer yesterday at a news conference in Manhattan, said the state would pay the full cost of chemotherapy for illegal immigrants, estimated at $5 million to $10 million annually. “

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