Thread: Do Illegals really use the hospital emergency rooms?

Had to visit the emergency room this weekend. Over half the people were of apparent hispanic descent. The person at the insurance desk said almost none of them have insurance. Is this typical? Last time I visited the emergency room was 5 years ago and there were almost no hispanics. Unbelievable what has happened in 5 years here in NC!

You should have told them YOU had no insurance and see if they didn't refuse you care. My bet would be they would ask you to leave. Oh and btw, when Illegals go in to get care without Insurance, YOU'RE paying for it....Welcome to America.

Yes, it is the same way all across the US. The illegals are piling on the ER's.

Here is the real trick. Illegal aliens are prohibited from receiving medicaid for health care payments. The hospitals are not required to check legal status. Therefore, no medicaid equals no pay for the hospitals so they run them through.

Even with the medicaid, California had to close 86 hospitals over this and we have over 77 hospitals going bankrupt in the border states alone.

You should see the maternity wards. You are paying for that too.

Many of the illegal aliens are not migrating. They are colonizing.

W

My girlfriend works at a cardiologist office, in the BILLING dept...LOL, she sees more SS# abuse then you can imagine, claims get denied, she calls the people to collect on these outstanding bills. Most of the time she gets the old, " Oh no speakee english" "click" and they hang up. Its going on everywhere not just in the ER, some of these people go to the office she works in for follow up care, after an OPERATION, that costs thousands....nice huh?

Just add another 200 million people + children =

USA in 2025.

Don't forget that if you are an American who is paying for health insurance through your company or on your own, you will pay EXTRA, much more than one who has no insurance to help pay for the illegal aliens health care and births.

Instead of a $5.00 bandaid you will see $50.00 for the SAME bandaid on your hospital bill. If you HAVE insurance you will be required to pay for ten other people's bandaids, not just your own.

Compare a hospital bill from someone with insurance against someone who doesn't have it. It's amazing, the blatant tricks people like Ted Kennedy and John McCain and George Bush are trying to pull over the eyes of the American people.

You thought you were fortunate to HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE, LOL, well, you used to be......in the old America.....the days before George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush came to town.

I used to work EMS in a border town and went out on a cut foot one time, I was told that the guy cut his foot on a piece of glass but I didn't see any glass there and the cut looked to me to have been self inflicked, it wasn't even deep enough to bleed but he wanted to be transported to a hospital, he admitted to me he was here illegally.
What this does is get him into the medical system and "proves" he has been here since a certain time making it harder to prove he is illegal.
Not only do your tax dollars pay for this but it ties up emergency ambulances keeping them from responding to real emergencies.
Think about that! One of your family members could be dieing but they will have to wait for an ambulance because a illegal wants to get into the system!

Hi MountainDog,

This ER story is from my story.

Another thing that needs to change...that just being born here conveys
citizenship. If a person is born to a non-citizen who is NOT a green card
holder... then the baby shouldn't be a citizen. In the ER, I took care
of a child of Brazilian parents, who proudly presented her with her
Medicaid card. Now these folk arrived in their big Mercedes, with 2
(men's and ladies) Presidential Rolexes and expensive jewelry, handmade
clothes and shoes and with even the child wearing more real jewelry
(diamonds) than I'll ever be able to afford. They explained that this is
the "greatest country". That it is well known in Brazil to come to Disney
World in Orlando, Fl. for the last month of pregnancy and to just stay
till the baby's born...then you have a US citizen and can get help. These
people are millionaires. OUTRAGEOUS! My tax money going to people like this!

My oldest daughter is disabled. She has a very rare disease which
doesn't have a federal code. It's progressive and the doctors who are the
federal gatekeepers acknowledge that she CANNOT work and needs SSDI. Yet,
she's been told to her face that she's" white, so she can work". I told
her to get a lawyer. Yet, she's been a taxpayer since she was a teenager,
and can't get help! I have a doctor friend who works as a gatekeeper.
This doc told me recently that the law is that a Hispanic who never learns
English and is depressed, and has never worked, gets SSDI.
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

We (ER) were NOT allowed to ask status. Nor can anyone (even Americans) be refused for emergency care. I can tell you that there is a resignation in ER staff, because with the complexity of the insurance system (which docs cover which ins.?), it's actually easier when people don't have ins. and we know that they are going to be 'freebies' to get specialists. On call docs are required by the hospitals to take anyone. There is a major difference in attitude in patients' and families when they don't have ins., but are honest folk who will make payment arrangements and do the best they can, vs. those who just don't care because they are going to make no effort to pay anything. Yet they want us to be there, with all the cost it takes to keep a hospital open, staffed and stocked with supplies. I cannot tell you how many times, I'd look at an address, realize that it would have to be in the middle of Biscayne Bay, and when I'd confront the individual....they'd just smirk and insist it was a good address and phone no. I'd even go to the trouble of saying, " What if something comes back on your tests that we need to contact you about?'
I'd get a shrug.

One ER visit we had in Dec. 2003 involved my daughter who is diabetic. This was during the height of flu season that year. When she gets sick, especially with fever/vomiting, it can play havoc with her glucose levels. The elevated glucose can cause an emergency situation with ketoasidosis and diabetic coma. A diabetic doesn't need to be unconscious to be in a coma.

After being on the phone a few times with the diabetic team they told me to take my daughter to the ER. She has insurance through her father's employer.

We went to the children's ER section. I live in NC. At least 1/2 to 2/3 of the people there appeared Hispanic. It was not just a child and one parent in many cases but what appeared to be entire families. At one point I walked over to the adult ER section because the vending machines were there and the wait room was similar with large numbers of Hispanics. Both wait rooms appeared full capacity with very few seats.

Of course, one of the first things asked when we checked in was insurance information. After an initial consult with a nurse, we had to wait two hours for a room and an IV to rehydrate my daughter. The entire visit took several hours because the staff were so overwhelmed.

My daughter, who was complaining of a sore throat in addition to vomiting and having a fever, was given a flu test. It was negative so upon discharge I was just told to follow up the next day with her regular pediatrician. At this visit, the doctor ordered a strep test after looking at her throat. It was positive. This was the first of several times she has had strep.

Around the same time and year, a friend of mine sustained third degree burns on her hand and wrist from hot oil in a cooking accident. She said she had to wait three hours at the ER before being taken to a room and seeing a doctor.

We've had other hospital ordeals too but I have to sign off for now.

noillegalimmigrationannie

I cannot tell you just how frustrating your situation is for ER staff. You see, in the Cuban culture, anyway, can't speak to other Hispanic groups, an ER visit is a social event, so extended families show up for ANYTHING. Cut your finger and need 2 stitches (although you and I would wash it with soap and water and put on a bandaid at home) or twist an ankle? So 12-17 people can show up easily. I was told over and over it's just that they are so "family oriented" and that they 'care more' than Americans do. AT 2 AM? Now remember, I'm not talking about a critical situation or if a loved one is dying. That's different. I would tell them that Americans would think it RUDE to wake up family because of a cut finger. I got so frustrated one time at the huge numbers of family members taking seats in the waiting room and parking lot, when I had very ill people who couldn't find a place to park or sit down, and a line out the door and around the building, that I went out and got their attention, with difficulty. I introduced myself (so they would know who to complain about) and explained the crowding situation, and very politely but firmly asked that they leave one family member with a patient and that everyone go to one family members home, and let the visitor in the ER, be the contact point for the entire group,...that I would greatly appreciate their help in letting the other very ill patients, have a place to park and sit down. To my surprise, they followed my 'suggestion'. I advised my supervisor what I had done and why. Never heard anything about it, which REALLY surprised me. Thought I might get fired, but I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF MY PATIENTS.