Commissioners OK funding for prenatal care to the uninsured
Published: Saturday, September 04, 2010


By Keith Phucas

Prior to the Montgomery County Commissioners’ recent approval of $285,322 for prenatal care to benefit pregnant women who are mostly illegal immigrants, Chairman James R. Matthews said the state aid was a hedge against potentially greater medical costs if women have complications during the births.

In recent years, Norristown area hospitals have been inundated with Latina women, many of whom have no medical insurance. This year, Montgomery Hospital is projected to deliver more than 1,000 babies, though that number could climb higher, according to local officials. Births skyrocketed this year at the Norristown medical center after Mercy Suburban Hospital in East Norriton closed its obstetrics department.

On average, Montgomery Hospital loses $2,500 for every baby born there and could rack up a total of $16 million in uncompensated care in 2010, according to a hospital official in June.

“There’s been anecdotal discussions that nationally right now, as high as 15 percent of all births in the United States are from undocumented mothers, and it is bankrupting out hospitals,â€