Thread: Costs skyrocket for illegal immigrant health care

Costs skyrocket for illegal immigrant health care
Yesterday KTRH-740 reported that Harris County taxpayers paid $97 million in health care costs for illegal immigrants last year:

KTRH has learned the Harris County Hospital District is shelling out millions of dollars every year to treat people who are here in this country illegally.

When you subtract what patients paid for hospital district services, and money from federal grants and other sources, $97.3 million dollars is what the local property taxpayer subsidized the district budget for undocumented immigrant care in 2005. That's 14 percent of the entire hospital system's operating budget.

Today the Chronicle has more:

Commissioner Steve Radack, who requested the report on the district's costs of treating undocumented immigrants, said county residents are shouldering a burden created by the federal government.

The federal government doesn't prevent illegal immigration, but hardly reimburses local counties where the immigrants most frequently settle and use public health care facilities, he said.

"The federal government allows people to come here illegally," Radack said. "Because of that the cost shouldn't fall on the local taxpayer."

The district treated more than 57,000 illegal immigrants last year, at a cost of $128 million. The federal and state governments reimbursed about $28 million, and the patients themselves paid about $3 million. Over the past 11 years, the district has paid about $607 million in unreimbursed costs for treating undocumented immigrants.

The district does not directly ask patients if they are in the country legally, but infers their status from other information gleaned during patient screenings, officials said.

And this is only for the county hospitals. Chris Baker was discussing this yesterday and one of his callers identified herself as an employee of a private, fourteen-hospital group here in the Houston area. She said they routinely write off anywhere from 40 to 60 surgeries each week, because the patients are here illegally and are unable to pay. She said the paperwork will often have Social Security numbers such as 111-11-1111, or 999-99-9999, and bogus addresses, but since hospitals are prohibited from turning anyone away, there is nothing they can do about it.


Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/17/06 06:25 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)

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Article URL: http://www.bloghouston.net//item/3539
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Illegals coming in to our emergency waiting rooms for tx, should be stablized and if their medical tx requires futher tx such as surgery for their continued health or if they have a contagious disease that could be passed on to the American public, and requires extensive care to render them non contagious to the American public, these people shouuld be stablized then immidiately flown to their own country for any futher treatment! I have as much compassion as anyone to another human being needing immediate emergency care. On the other hand I also have compassion for my fellow hard working american American taxpayer's. It is totally unethical of our countrys leaders to think this burden of paying for the complete health care of illegal aliens should be on the back's of this country's Legal citizens, without the express permission of those citizen's to misuse their hard earned money in this way! Just as criminal illegal aliens are deported, so should any illegal alien in this country needing extensive medical tx, should be deported to their own country for any futher medical treatment!

This is absolutely disgusting as there are first responders from 9-11 who are suffering from various types of sicknesses including one fireman who was there for 3 weeks helping with the aftermath. He has a family and is now on dialysis due to failed kidneys which was attributed to the initial search and recovery effort and ensuing cleanup. He needs a kidney transplant but can't afford the cost. His medical bills have piled up and he applied for assistance from the government. They have provided absolutely NOTHING to him. He has retained legal council. Despite all this illegal aliens have had expensive medical procedures including one who amassed a million dollars in health care costs from surgery and other associated care. We tax payers subsidized 100 percent of that. This administration diverted 58 million dollars in medicaid/medicare funding for senior citizens rechanneling it to illegal alien health care. This administration also cut 125 million dollars earmarked for health care for 9-11 first responders. Want to venture a guess where that went? The same administration convened secret panels to cut VA funding during a time of rising casualties from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops upon their return to the U.S. were facing financial difficulty due to crippling injuries and surviving family members have to deal with the emotional and financial impacts and burden from the loss of their loved ones while serving this country. Mr Bush, you and the congress should be ashamed of yourselves by placing the welfare of illegal border hoppers above the interests of those whose sacrifices have helped this nation remain free.

"The federal government allows people to come here illegally," Radack said. "Because of that the cost shouldn't fall on the local taxpayer."

It does not matter if they take it out of us locally or federally, we are still paying for this outrage.

Yet every day there are more articles about how illegals contributions to the economy far outweigh what they are costing to society.

This must be stopped. We are being crushed.