Send Illegal Aliens Packing...'Healthcare Crisis' Will End

I am unable to copy the story below to post it - my apologies.

Send Illegal Aliens Packing...'Healthcare Crisis' Will End
http://www.examiner.com/x-35821-Immigra ... s-will-end

Allow me to help T2S :wink:



Send illegal aliens packing...'healthcare crisis' will end

January 26, 5:26


Illegal aliens are the number one cause for rising medical costs
USATodayUntil the recent election of Republican Scott Brown as the junior Senator from Massachusetts, it looked as if Congress would pass the government takeover of our healthcare system, not-so affectionately known as Obamacare. For several months, Congress debated and ignored our very audible objections, while our insurance premiums and co-pays continued to rise. However, the number one culprit behind out-of-control health care costs goes unmentioned.

Along with a host of other crimes, illegal aliens are stealing health care for which the rest of us must pay.

The enormous bills which illegal aliens leave unpaid at American hospitals, leave those hospitals with two choices: They can either distribute those costs among their paying customers, or operate annually at a loss and eventually close their doors.

In 2003, the American Southwest saw 77 hospitals enter bankruptcy due to unpaid medical bills incurred by illegal aliens. Over the last several years, a staggering 84 hospitals in California alone have been forced out of business due to the growing crisis. Hospitals which manage to remain open, pass the unpaid costs onto the rest of us, which translates into more out-of-pocket expenses and higher insurance premiums for Americans.

Everyday, pregnant Mexican and Central American women on the verge of giving birth, make their way across the U.S. border to have their baby in an American hospital. These children become infamous "Anchor Babies" so prized by their criminal parents. Once the child is born on American soil, he or she instantly attains U.S. citizenship. Not only are the parents almost always allowed to stay, but since they have no income, the baby is eligible for welfare, WIC, Food Stamps, etc.--all at the expense of the great American taxpayer.

At one of North Carolina’s Goshen Medical Centers, nursing assistant Jessica Roberts told USAToday in 2008, about an illegal alien who arrived more than eight months pregnant with her eighth child!

There are 350,000 of these so-called Anchor Babies born in the U.S. every year. It is estimated that they consume $118 billion annually in government services.

A 2007 March of Dimes survey placed the average cost of an uncomplicated, vaginal birth in a U.S. hospital at $8,800, with the average cost of a cesarean birth at $11,000.

Of course, these hospitals have no choice but to treat these women along with their newborn babies. However, the bills racked-up in the process always go unpaid.

According to a 2000 report by the United States/Mexico Border Counties Coalition, counties along the Mexican border lost over $800 million in health care services, at least 25% of that could be attributed to unpaid bills incurred by illegal aliens.

The American border states currently shoulder the brunt of the burden, for instance the Texas state comptroller estimates illegal aliens cost hospitals $1.3 billion in 2006 alone.

In California, a 2004 study conducted by FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) placed the now bankrupt state's annual cost for treating illegal aliens at $1.4 billion.

But with the spread of illegal immigration now throughout the U.S., the same such studies in 2005 found that health care costs for illegal aliens in Colorado and Minnesota were $31 million and $17 million, respectively.

In recent years, North Carolina has seen an explosion in the state’s illegal alien population, as well as sky-rocketing medical costs. According to a University of North Carolina study, one in four new residents to the state from 1990 to 2004 was an illegal alien. The Pew Hispanic Center claims there are now more than 300,000 illegal aliens living in North Carolina.

In 2008, Jeff Spade, vice president of the North Carolina Hospital Association told USAToday: "It's exploded the amount for hospitals, the burden of the uninsured immigrant is huge. It's exploded the amount of work that they have to do."

A March 2007 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association claimed that during the period 2001-2004, emergency Medicaid costs for illegal aliens rose by 28% in North Carolina.

Duplin General Hospital in Kanansville, NC, now faces a rather bleak financial future due to the large influx of illegal aliens, and their unpaid medical bills. CEO Harvey Case recently addressed the hospital’s lack of profits, when he said: "We're living off reserves."

U.S. hospitals often seek help for the unpaid bills as well as with transportation back to Mexico from the Mexican Consulate offices. However, the Mexican government rarely even arranges flights for their severely injured citizens to return home.

The illegal alien patient usually ends up staying in the hospital for weeks or months, with the hospital usually paying for a flight home, along with the enormous unpaid bill.

A 2008 New York Times article told the incredible story of a1999 Florida car crash which left Guatemalan national Luis Alberto Jimenez's with severe and permanent physical and mental injuries. After spending more than $1 million on Jimenez’s treatment, and failed attempts to secure assistance from the government of Guatemala, the Florida hospital eventually paid to fly Jimenez back to his own country.

The incredible part of the story…Jimenez is now suing the Florida hospital, which he now says “falsely imprisonedâ€

Why do our politicians continue to ignore the reality of the cost to America for illegal immigration?
OBAMACARE is a cover to force us to pay for the services to illegals. They will then get dental and vision coverage at our expense, using false documents of course.
I read an article recently, quoting Harry Reid, about the hospital crisis Nevada was facing as a result of illegal immigrants not paying hospital bills. He said " We have proposed health care and immigration reform to deal with this issue".

Thank you, azwreath, for your very welcome assistance.

Beside axing "Obamacare", what we really need to do is repeal EMTALA!

The third candidate in the Texas Governor's race had to courage to state this during the recent local public television (KERA)-sponsored public debate. Members of the audience obviously were very interested until she was cut off by the moderator. She also was very willing to speak up about the need to stop illegal immigration itself to Texas (also cut short).


EMTALA, Unfunded Emergency Room Care, and Health Care Reform

The same year it passed the "Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), the U.S. Congress also passed the "Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act" (EMTALA), requiring hospitals and ambulance services in the United States that accept payments under the Medicare program to provide emergency medical care regardless of citizenship, legal status, or ability to pay. There is no reimbursement provision. It would seem that the results of this unfunded mandate by the federal government may have led directly to the situation which we are now told requires "immediate health care reform" by Congress.

I heard a Congressman on CNN this morning defending the Democrats' 'public health care option' on the basis that "when uninsured people go to the emergency room and don't pay their bills, that cost is passed up by the hospitals to the insurance companies, which adds it onto the cost of insured people's premiums. Covering all the uninsured would solve this."

Below is the introduction of an explanation of EMTALA at Wikipedia with a link to the entire article. From this explanation, it seems repealing the " Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act" (EMTALA) might do a great deal more toward solving our current "health care cost crisis" than passing yet another federal health care mandate.

"There is also debate about the extent to which EMTALA has led to cost-shifting and higher rates for insured or paying hospital patients, thereby contributing to the high overall rate of medical inflation in the U.S."

Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_ ... _Labor_Act

"The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395dd, EMTALA) is a United States Act of Congress passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. It requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions. As a result of the act, patients needing emergency treatment can be discharged only under their own informed consent or when their condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment.

"EMTALA applies to "participating hospitals", i.e., those that accept payment from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Medicare program. However, in practical terms, EMTALA applies to virtually all hospitals in the U.S., with the exception of the Shriners Hospitals for Children, Indian Health Service hospitals, and Veterans Affairs hospitals. The combined payments of Medicare and Medicaid, $602 billion in 2004,[1] or roughly 44% of all medical expenditures in the U.S., make not participating in EMTALA impractical for nearly all hospitals. EMTALA's provisions apply to all patients, and not just to Medicare patients.[2][3]

"The cost of emergency care required by EMTALA is not directly covered by the federal government. Because of this, the law has been criticized by some as an unfunded mandate.[4] Similarly, it has attracted controversy for its impacts on hospitals, and in particular, for its possible contributions to an emergency medical system that is "overburdened, underfunded and highly fragmented".[5] MORE THAN HALF OF ALL EMERGENCY ROOM CARE IN THE U.S. NOW GOES UNCOMPENSATED. Hospitals write off such care as charity or bad debt for tax purposes. Increasing financial pressures on hospitals in the period since EMTALA's passage have caused consolidations and closures, so the number of emergency rooms is decreasing despite increasing demand for emergency care.[6] There is also debate about the extent to which EMTALA has led to cost-shifting and higher rates for insured or paying hospital patients, thereby contributing to the high overall rate of medical inflation in the U.S."

and

Paying The Price For Illegal Immigrant Care

Investor's Business Daily
August 24, 2009 Monday

Last decade, the Clinton administration added teeth to a little-known Health and Human Services Department regulation mandating that hospitals provide emergency treatment even to illegals.

Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, hospitals can't even ask for a patient's immigration status or ability to pay prior to delivering treatment. They also can't keep such uninsured patients waiting, even if their problem isn't an emergency. Nor can they discharge them until they're fully stabilized and have safe transportation.

More, hospitals must post EMTALA signs in Spanish and English. The law isn't limited to ERs. Hospitals must accept illegals at any facility on campus -- including outpatient clinics and doctor's offices -- located within 250 yards of the main buildings.

Hospitals end up treating uninsured illegals for the sniffles and other nonurgent care, and pass that exorbitant cost on to the insured, the Government Accountability Office has found. Resulting overcrowding leads to delays in "care for patients with true emergency needs."

This unfunded federal mandate has placed a heavy and unfair financial burden on more than 1,500 hospitals across the country, according to HHS data, costing billions in unpaid bills by some estimates.

entire article at:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-168074-emtala.html
(Posted August 11, 2009)

Quote:

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At one of North Carolina’s Goshen Medical Centers, nursing assistant Jessica Roberts told USAToday in 2008, about an illegal alien who arrived more than eight months pregnant with her eighth child!

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This happens every day in California!

And while we're picking up the cost of illegals' healthcare, they're sending billions of dollars back to their home countries.