In the midst of the "end of life as we know it" called the shutdown — caused by Obamacare and its patron — there is a flood of related news from around the country and across the ocean. This one we'll file under "Something else we can look forward to under Obamacare."

In Great Britain the government is introducing a new law into Parliament that will require foreigners to prove they are in the U.K. legally before they are granted access to the National Health Service.

The Telegraph quotes Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, "We need to ensure that those residing or visiting the U.K. are contributing to the system, and that we do as much as possible to target illegal migration. We have a National Health Service not an international health service and I am determined to wipe out abuse in the system."

The U.K.'s NHS — the real goal of leftist healthcare reform here in the states — has a big problem with what's known as "health tourists." These individuals enter the country hale and hearty only to suddenly be struck down by a knee replacement, heart bypass, or cancer therapy. It must be something about the climate.

Once the expensive medical procedures are complete, the newly resorted visitors return to their home countries, while the bills stay behind.

Here in the U.S., illegals are already crossing the border to have "anchor babies" in our maternity wards. It's only a matter of time before we, like the U.K., witness the spectacle of "anchor hip replacements."

The medical tourist provision is part of what is termed the Immigration Bill and it has much else that we could learn from here in the U.S.

The highlights of the bill, as listed by The Telegraph, include:

• Fines of up to 3,000 pounds if landlords do not conduct thorough background checks on their tenants
• Fines of up to 20,000 pounds for every illegal worker employed by unscrupulous businesses (this would put a crimp in the lunch line at Chipotle for sure)
• End foreign criminals dodging deportation by appealing using the Human Rights Act. Instead the law will allow immediate deportation unless criminals can show they face "serious and irreversible harm" in their home countries.

Just the first two items on the list would go a long way toward solving our illegal alien problem, but instead Democrats and Obama hold a rally for illegals and amnesty on the closed-to-citizens National Mall.

Michael Reagan is the son of former President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the League of American Voters. His blog appears on reaganreports.com