Thread: Providers worry about new medicare rule

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs ... /604230328

Local news Sunday, April 23, 2006

Providers worry about new medicare rule

Patients will need birth certificate, passport to get care

Diana Washington Valdez
El Paso Times
Sunday, April 23, 2006

A new requirement for Medicaid recipients to produce proof of citizenship beginning July 1 is not being well received by health-care centers in El Paso and elsewhere in the nation.

The law, signed by President Bush in February will require Medicaid patients to produce a passport or a birth certificate together with a photo identification, such as a driver's license. Currently, some states require only that Medicaid patients certify that they are citizens or documented immigrants eligible to receive the benefits. New documented immigrants must wait five years before they are eligible for Medicaid.

"We have not received any notice of this requirement, but if we are expected to act as la migra (Border Patrol), we're not," said Salvador Balcorta, executive director of Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe. "We are a health-care organization. We are not an agent of the Border Patrol."

Thomason Hospital CEO and President James N. Valenti said he doesn't expect the new law to have much effect on the county hospital. "We already check the qualifications of people seeking charity care. If a patient shows up here for care, we're going to take care of them."

Representatives of Las Palmas Medical Center, Del Sol Healthcare Center, Sierra Medical Center and Providence Memorial Hospital also said they expected to continue treating patients as usual.

"You can't discriminate," said Terri Wyatt, spokeswoman for Las Palmas and Del Sol. "Our mission is health care. If patients present themselves for treatment at ER (emergency), we're going to treat them and worry about everything else later. Once a patient is stabilized, we may refer them back to their regular hospital or to clinics that we work with throughout the community."

Irma Flores, spokeswoman for Sierra Providence Health Network, said "the way we understand it, it's going to limit an individual's ability to qualify for Medicaid, and we don't believe that will be beneficial for El Paso or our health-care facilities."

The provision is part of the Budget Deficit Reduction Act, which aims to reduce the growth in Medicaid spending by nearly $5 billion over the next five years. According to President Bush, the law also seeks to bring under control government spending for food stamps and student aid for higher education.

The National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C., an advocacy organization, said the funding cuts contained in the budget reconciliation bill, HR 4241, would increase the number of Hispanics and other Americans who do not receive adequate health care, and would reduce the availability of food for low-income families.

"(We) understand that we must address the federal budget deficit, but we question the wisdom of targeting programs that serve the poor as a means to this end," said Janet Murguia, the council's president and CEO. "This budget and reconciliation bill would severely weaken programs that effectively serve low and middle-income families, while doing little to balance the budget."

Proponents of the legislation said it would help reduce wasteful spending by removing undocumented immigrants from Medicaid rolls.

However, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a comprehensive survey last year by the federal Health and Human Services Inspector General "failed to find any substantial evidence that illegal immigrants are fraudulently getting Medicaid coverage by claiming they are citizens, and the inspector general did not recommend requiring that documentation of citizenship be required."

The center, based in Washington, D.C., determined through U.S. Census data that about 49 million U.S.-born citizens and 2 million naturalized citizens were enrolled in Medicaid.

The center's analysis also showed that some elderly African- Americans -- as many as a fifth of those born during 1939-40 -- who were not born in a hospital never received a birth certificate, and people displaced by hurricane Katrina lost their documents. Many homeless people also do not have either a birth certificate or passport with them.

"Between 3 million and 5 million U.S.-born Medicaid beneficiaries do not have these documents readily available, and could find their Medicaid coverage at risk," the nonprofit research center's analysis said.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

This is where our own citizens are put in jeopardy because of illegal abuse of this system. And when your at the bottom....they are right, they are not border patrol or police or anything like that. Most times they don't have the means to assure documents aren't fraudlant and they end up being punished for a system that has failed.

Another instance in which someone is advocating treating the illegals better that the average U.S. citizen. Every hospital and doctor's office I've been in, whether emergency or not, has required me to pay up before seeing the doctor or show my insurance card. Treat someone first and THEN worry about "everything else?" Lucky immigrants!

That's been my experience too. I don't know how it's been so easy for them either. They may not have known the total price at that point but I always had to plunk down no less that 100.00 just to see the Dr.

I didn't read the article too carefully - but it was talking about Medicaid - are illegals on mediaid? All of them?

I didn't think that many were. Most of them just go to the ER and get treated.

But I also think it is garbage for a hospital to say they can't check - sorry I don't buy that.

If you have insurance, they certainly have time to check with your company to be sure you are covered. They have time to demand you pay cash if you don't.

They don't want to know - it is big business for them.

I say emergency treatment and sick child treatment - then deportation - period.

Originally Posted by reform_now

Another instance in which someone is advocating treating the illegals better that the average U.S. citizen. Every hospital and doctor's office I've been in, whether emergency or not, has required me to pay up before seeing the doctor or show my insurance card. Treat someone first and THEN worry about "everything else?" Lucky immigrants!

EXACTLY! They DO have more rights than we do. Everytime I go to the emergency room, they give me h--l if I don't have my insurance card with me. Even though I go there a lot because of my son's condition, every time I HAVE to have proof of insurance, and go through my entire record again so they make sure they can get paid. On the contrary, the waiting room is full of illegals, many of whom can not speak a lick of English, pregnant or with their kids to get check ups. It is infuriating. This is such BS. I am soooooooo sick of it!!!!!!!! UGH