Illegal immigrants would not be able to buy insurance on a national exchange under the Senate's health care bill, even if they paid their own way.

The proposed Senate legislation goes further than the bill which passed the House earlier. That bill prohibited illegal immigrants from getting federal subsidies for their insurance, but still allowed them to participate in the exchange.

The exchanges would allow individuals and certain employers to buy health insurance from participating companies. In the House version, a national exchange would be overseen by a new federal agency by 2013; in the Senate bill, many exchanges would be set up by the states by 2014.

The provision is in stark contrast to the rest of the bill, which seeks to reduce the number of uninsured.

Roughly 60 percent of illegal immigrants in the United States do not have health insurance, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Many end up using emergency rooms as their only source of health care.

It remains a contentious issue. In a September speech to Congress, President Barack Obama said that the health care overhaul would not cover illegal immigrants , prompting U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson to call the president a liar.

-- Ryan Teague Beckwith, Congress.org