Thread: Feds To Fund Migrant Care (Illegal Aliens)

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Feds To Fund Migrant Care (Illegal Aliens)


Feds to fund migrant care
$45 million to reimburse Arizona hospitals

Billy House and Susan Carroll
The Arizona Republic
May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Starting today, hospitals and doctors in Arizona and other states can charge the federal government for the costs of providing emergency care to undocumented immigrants.

Arizona hospitals could receive up to $45 million a year for the next four years, according to guidelines released Monday by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The announcement was welcomed by hospitals along Arizona's stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border, where health care administrators have long complained about being uncompensated for care provided to thousands of undocumented immigrants each year. advertisement

Administrators estimated the funding will cover up to 30 percent of the cost of care, but they were encouraged because of the federal government's recognition of the expenses shouldered largely by border hospitals.

"In the past, we got nothing, so this is great," said Greg Pivirotto, chief executive of University Medical Center in Tucson, which could receive $2 million to $3 million this year under the new guidelines. "It's clearly not the solution, but it will help because this is a national problem, not a local problem."

By law, hospitals cannot turn away patients, and they absorb the costs associated with caring for undocumented immigrants.

Jeanine L'Ecuyer, a spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano, said the funding is "a good start, but it's just a start."

"It doesn't completely cover all of the costs," she added.

Since the U.S. Border Patrol launched major crackdowns on illegal immigration in California and Texas in the 1990s, the flow of undocumented immigrants shifted to Arizona. With the majority of the 1.1 million arrests along the Southwestern border last year in Arizona, the state's taxpayers are "picking up the brunt" of costs associated with illegal immigration, ranging from hospitals to prisons, L'Ecuyer said.

The argument was bolstered Monday with the release of a Government Accountability Office report that showed Arizona got federal reimbursement for only 14 percent of its $100 million in costs in 2002 and 2003 for incarcerating undocumented immigrants accused of crimes.

Since February, Napolitano has been sending invoices to the federal government for those reimbursements. On March 24, she sent a bill for $195.6 million for the costs to Arizona's prison system for the years 2003, 2004 and part of 2005. An earlier reimbursement request was denied.

Congress, in passing the 2004 Medicare reform bill in late 2003, set aside about $1 billion over four years for the hospital emergency-care reimbursement program. The legislation covered care provided after Oct. 1, 2004, but hospital officials said that until Monday, there still was no system in place to seek compensation.

"We are pleased the government is starting to recognize the problem, but it's been a stuttering start," said Jim Dickson, chief executive of Bisbee's Copper Queen Hospital. "We were supposed to receive our first check April 1."

Gary Karr, spokesman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that two-thirds of the money, or $167 million a year, will be distributed nationally to hospitals and doctors based on a state's percentage of undocumented immigrants.

The remaining one-third, about $83 million a year, will be distributed to health providers only in Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida and New York, where the largest numbers of undocumented immigrants were detained, Karr said. In this way, he said, those states will essentially "draw twice" from the funding.

In this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, Arizona's $45 million total will be the third-highest, behind only California, with $70.8 million, and Texas, with $46 million. Over the course of the four years for the funding, Arizona could receive up to $180 million .

Providers will apply for the funding by documenting costs and sending them in on a quarterly basis. Karr said adjustments will be made if a state's bills exceed its pre-set, pro rata share of the national total.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who played a role in securing the $1 billion in the Medicare bill, said in a news release Monday that it is "enormously unfair for Arizona's hospitals to bear a hugely disproportionate burden for mandated emergency health treatment for illegal aliens, and relief is long overdue."

But he added, "Until the federal government secures the border, illegal aliens are going to continue to show up on hospital doorsteps. The objective here is, frankly, to keep our emergency rooms open in the meantime."

A study commissioned by Congress of the 24 U.S. counties bordering Mexico found that hospitals in those areas provided $190 million in uncompensated emergency medical care to undocumented immigrants during 2000. In Pima County alone, one of the hardest-hit areas, the tab exceeded $24 million.

"In the grand scheme of things, it's hugely important for our hospitals to finally receive this money," said John Rivers, president and chief executive of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.

Rivers said that in the past, health care administrators have not had solid estimates for the cost of caring for undocumented immigrants because hospitals are responsible to treat patients, not to determine their legal status. The hope is that, in about a year, the new billing system will give care providers a more accurate accounting of how much is spent nationwide on the care of undocumented immigrants, he added.



Reach the reporter at 1-(202)-906-8136.

So we see the feds funding the Illegals, yet they say they are going to stop them by using the REAL ID Act.? Seems to me if they wanted to control them, they would stop taking care of them excpet to give them a one way ride home.

JP wrote

So we see the feds funding the Illegals, yet they say they are going to stop them by using the REAL ID Act.? Seems to me if they wanted to control them, they would stop taking care of them excpet to give them a one way ride home.

Right you are! Understand that ALL THE REAL ID LAWS in the world are only going to hurt AMERICANS in the long run.

Do you see how they're automatically circumventing laws on the books and laws that are being passed??? Just look at their actions and the story is told!

** make legislation to SHUT UP THE PEOPLE
** make legislation to GO AROUND THE OTHER LEGISLATION
***The AMERICAN PEOPLE CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT OR KEEP UP {so they believe}

Yes, it is a shame that Americans are so desperate to stop the Illegals that they are willing to accept any legislation that supposedly stops them. But they are using double speak when they say the real id act stops the illegals and then pass legislation that benefits them.

I realize that it's difficult to connect all the dots, however, if everyone read the CFR 7-page Document then it would become a more understandable picture. The technology coming down the line is frightening and with the OPEN BORDERS/FREE TRADE {NOT!} PLANNED...AMERICANS WILL BE THE ONES UP THE TREE with no safety net!!!

Chip, Chip, Chip away at my FREEDOM! until it's all taken

I'm standing firm on this one

BTW, while I'm ranting away, let me remind people that the 911 planes would have had a better than good chance of staying in the air had our pilots been ARMED! Had ILLEGALs in the US been rounded up!!

Why are Americans WILLINGLY being brought to the slaughter block with the prayer that the government will TAKE CARE OF THEM after all these travesties have occured? NOT GONNA HAPPEN

{done and thank you}

Okay, so Bush gave illegals a "health care program" today, right?
The hospital needs only to decide if the illegal is probably illegal by asking some questions. (They cannot ask, "Are you in the U.S. legally?"). So when they decifer that they are illegal they can go ahead with care. The hospital is now assurred payment ....by you and me and our kids.
Great job, Mr. Bush. And I assume this is going to be one HUGE program to further benefit illegals. In fact, ONE MORE good reason to "pick up and move to America" if you currently reside in Mexico. You would have thought the Federal Government would "PAY BACK" these states and make a true effort to try to stop the problem, NOT START A NEW PROGRAM to go into the future!!! Geez, how long til election day??!!
Okay, I'm now seriously convinced Kerry would not have been as bad as Bush. I'm now convinced. That's it, other than supporting Tancredo if he runs, I'm no longer a Republican. Over. I'm finished with them.

Okay, I'm now seriously convinced Kerry would not have been as bad as Bush.

They are actually cousins and not really that much differnt in their views. I vote independent and third party.

JP you are correct, and after careful thought, I have decided that I should not say I'm leaving the Republican Party. I realize that everyone fighting for this cause are coming strongly from BOTH parties. I guess that I am just so disappointed in what I see George Bush doing that it makes me want to leave the Republican Party. Right now, perhaps calling myself an
INDEPENDENT fighting for the American people would be most accurate.
It's almost impossible to say either party is for or against illegal immigration, because it is really coming down to individuals from both parties doing different things. Some pro-breaking the law, some are pro-upholding the law. ALL WE CAN BE SURE OF IS THAT OVER 80% OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE UNITED ON THEIR STAND TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!! Thank you for helping me to see things logically and clearly, and from the standpoint of the TRUTH.

They are actually cousins and not really that much differnt in their views. I vote independent and third party

JP, here's where we part company although I still think you're great

Kerry is a true TRAITOR. Kerry should have been brought up on charges for many different things so please DON'T SAY KERRY IS THE SAME. The man has proven contacts with the communists for his entire life let alone when he was in the Navy and after. This is not the place to discuss it but suffice it to say there is plenty of proof that, had the Congress had guts, would have kept him out of Congress and put him in jail.

Don't say anything unless you have the facts. He should have been tried for TREASON, among others.

Aside from which KERRY WANTED A BLANKET & COMPLETE AMNESTY.

BLAME CONGRESS, NOT THE PRESIDENT for this one. It started YEARS AGO and he's just continuing the plan!!

***side note: there is a reason why Kerry never signed his form 180!
Care to guess why? Come on, give it a try What's in his jacket that can NOT be seen by the public? Think he'd have given it up for the public to see had there NOT been some very disturbing information in it.........eh?

2ndamendsis,
Bush is also a Traitor with his open border policy. He is allowing our nation to be attacked and invaded and doing nothing about it. They should both be tried for treason.