Thread: Health Care Choaking Houston Hospitals

Health care reform brings challenges to hospital district
By TODD ACKERMAN
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
March 23, 2010, 10:54PM

Resources
Harris County Hospital District by the numbers
300,000 — number of patients treated annually at Harris County Hospital District
62 — percent of Harris County residents who don't have health insurance
90,000 - 120,000 — estimated number of uninsured illegal immigrants in Harris County



Illegal immigrants likely would become the largest patient pool of the Harris County Hospital District as a result of health care reform unless the taxpayer-funded institution can attract more insured patients than it currently serves, according to public health experts.

Hospital district President David Lopez said he's optimistic the district can better market itself to capture a larger percentage of covered patients but acknowledged that even if the district is successful, it must prepare for major shifts that will come with the landmark legislation President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday.

“With more people qualifying for coverage beginning in 2014, some of whom will go to other hospitals for their care, there will be questions about how to best maintain our payer mix,â€

You get to know which hospitals have a high number of illegal aliens, I refuse to go to those hospitals. I PAY for my insurance and I'll be damned if I'm going to subsidize them. These people can afford to pay for insurance, but would rather spend the money on unecessary possessions or to send money back home.

Don't fall for the lie that illegal aliens are poor. They're not. They live in overcrowded conditions..saving tremendously on rent. Get tons of freebies and free medical.

Originally Posted by miguelina

You get to know which hospitals have a high number of illegal aliens, I refuse to go to those hospitals. I PAY for my insurance and I'll be damned if I'm going to subsidize them. These people can afford to pay for insurance, but would rather spend the money on unecessary possessions or to send money back home.

Don't fall for the lie that illegal aliens are poor. They're not. They live in overcrowded conditions..saving tremendously on rent. Get tons of freebies and free medical.

Agreed!! I live in Illinois and have to listen to Luis Gutierrez continually demand that illegals be included in the HC bill. He says they WANT to buy the insurance "with their own money" so they can stop using the emergency rooms. Humbug! They will continue to send their money to Mexico and will continue to leech off the American taxpayers. Our emergency rooms will be even more croweded. Why else would there be 45 people using the same SSN at our local hospital (which I don't use - I drive to another facility).

Originally Posted by miguelina

You get to know which hospitals have a high number of illegal aliens, I refuse to go to those hospitals. I PAY for my insurance and I'll be damned if I'm going to subsidize them.

Unfortunately we in Houston have no choice but to subsidize them. We all have to pay a sizable Harris County Hospital District tax on our property each year.

This is no different than the crisis at Jackson in Miami. The south hoispital has 45% of their emergency patients who are uninsured and out of that the majority are illegals. If you know the demographics of the area you would agrre with me when I would say 90% or more of the 45% of uninsured are illegals. The main hospital in Miami had 1/3 of their kidney dialisys patients who were illegals and stop doing the procedure on uninsured patients.
Those illegals are something else. There is a hospital in North East Miami Dade County which is private. Illegals go to the emergency department there all the time. The hospital will only treat life and death cases and tell those who are not seriously ill to Jackson. Security actually removes them form the property. The illegals then phone the police department in that city and complain only to be told that it is a private hospital and they don't have to treat them if it is non life threatening. If theyb had that much guts back home like they do here they would have a better country.