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New law may increase illegals getting free medical care in ER


By Martin Burkey
DAILY Staff Writer
mburkey@decaturdaily.com · 340-2441

Decatur General Hospital officials expect to see more illegal immigrants in their emergency room for free medical care as a result of a new federal law aimed at keeping them from improperly getting government-funded Medicaid care.

"Yes, there may be some people who cannot apply for Medicaid now who will come through the emergency room," said Decatur General Marketing Director Susan Claborn. "But that's going to be hard to estimate for a while.

"We probably see a lot of them anyway. Even those who have Medicaid have been here such a short time they haven't searched out a primary care provider. A lot of times, they're not able to go to the doctor during the day, and they're coming to us (after hours), anyway."

Gov. Bob Riley issued a press release this week stating that Alabama is ready to enforce provisions of a new federal law to keep illegal aliens from getting medical care under Medicaid. The new law, signed by President Bush in February, requires Medicaid recipients to provide identification and proof of U.S. citizenship to receive benefits. Some of those documents include a U.S. passport, certified U.S. birth certificate or a government photo ID.

"If you're here illegally, we're going to do everything possible to make sure you no longer exploit the system," Riley said. "It's a crime for anyone, citizen or non-citizen, to defraud Medicaid, and the law will be strictly enforced. Every Medicaid dollar fraudulently taken by illegal aliens is a dollar in benefits stolen from low-income seniors and children who are entitled to receive them."

As a public, non-profit hospital, however, Decatur General is required to provide medical care regardless of ability to pay or nationality, Claborn said.

"It really is not going to affect us at this point," Claborn said. "If someone presents us with a Medicaid card, we're not asking for all those other credentials to prove citizenship. And, because we are a not-for-profit hospital, we treat everybody that comes through our door with the same kind of care, regardless of race, citizenship or ability to pay.

"If they don't have insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, they go down as a private pay patient. Of course we follow our standard billing as we would for a private pay patient."

Decatur General officials say uncompensated care is growing annually, most recently from $163 million in 2004 to $185 million in 2005, but they have no way of knowing how much is because of illegal immigrants.





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THE DECATUR DAILY
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Decatur, Ala. 35609