Thread: Do Illegals really use the hospital emergency rooms?

Medicaid Recipients Will Need U.S. Citizenship
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, June 6, 2006


WASHINGTON -- Tens of millions of low-income Americans will soon have to show their birth certificates or U.S. passports if they want to obtain health care through their state Medicaid programs.

The requirement that beneficiaries provide proof of citizenship goes into effect July 1. It's designed to root out cases of illegal immigrants getting their health care paid for by the government.


Does this mean that hospital emergency rooms will be able to turn away those without proof of citizenship? I don't think so!!!

I'm a Labor and Delivery nurse at a County Hospital. Our entire client base is Medi-Cal (state aid). The only time we get private insurance patients is if someone gets transferred to us because we can provide a higher level of care than the smaller, private hospitals - we are a trauma center and have a high level neonatal intensive care unit.

On any given night upwards of 90% of my unit is Spanish speaking only patients who, big surprise, do not have social security numbers!! We do not have the right to turn ANYONE away regardless of who they are or whether or not they can pay for services. Everyone always claims to be "single" so that we can't go after the father/spouse for payment. They get flustered sometimes giving us 2 or 3 different last names - trying to figure out which one matches their records.

I have also seen illegal immigrants using a borrowed Medi-Cal card, fraudulently claiming to be someone they are not. THEN when we get their medical records, it's obvious they are not who they claim. They are putting their LIVES at risk out of ignorance. What if we gave a blood transfusion based on the records of the person they are trying to impersonate? They could die!!

Some of them have told me that they have been told to "make up" some complaint to be see in the ER so they can "get themselves into the system"

Oh, just to add - the illegals also like to use ambulances - that the tax payers foot the bill for at about $1000 a pop! What REALLY irritates me is when the patient comes in by ambulance for something like a toothache (this really happened) and 5 minutes later, here comes the whole family who followed behind the ambulance in their car!!! Why the patient with the toothache had to get the pricey ambulance ride instead of riding in the car with the rest of the family? I couldn't tell you!

Some days all I can do is shake my head in disbelief! I sure am happy that my hard earned tax dollars are paying for these brilliant souls!

outnumberedinSoCal

I have also seen illegal immigrants using a borrowed Medi-Cal card, fraudulently claiming to be someone they are not. THEN when we get their medical records, it's obvious they are not who they claim. They are putting their LIVES at risk out of ignorance. What if we gave a blood transfusion based on the records of the person they are trying to impersonate? They could die!!

I had one family member, when I told them the same thing because of claiming to be someone they're not...say..."That's ok, we'd just sue you and get rich!"

I don't get it.

"get themselves into the system"

The paramedic used the same term when describing the insistance of an illegal to be transported to the hospital for treament of a minor cut.

What system are they so eager to get into, and what is the advantage. I am a little confused here.

greyparrot,

By showing paperwork with date/time and personal info...they can prove they're here, and apply for .....whatever....

By showing paperwork with date/time and personal info...they can prove they're here, and apply for .....whatever.

Excuse me while I go throw up....

Well, "getting into the system" for illegal alien women who are pregnant or who have children, allows them to apply for Medi-Cal so that the State of California pays for all of their medical bills and the medical bills of their children. They are also eligible to receive WIC (women, infants, children) a program that gives them monthly vouchers for baby formula, milk, and "nutritious food" for free. Then our social workers see these patients before they are discharged from the hospital and make sure that they have applied to receive welfare benefits on behalf of their now American citizen child, that they have housing or shelter. I don't know if this is how it is in other states, but, here in California we give them all kinds of social services.

And, frankly, if my hospital didn't get reimbursed from the state for the services that we provide, we would have to close our doors. That's how they pay my salary. It's in our best interest to ensure that these people are signed up to receive benefits, or we get nothing!! It's a broken system.

Also, consider pregnant illegals who cross the desert, travel in the back of a semi, etc. They wind up at our hospital emergency rooms, extremely ill or in preterm labor. Then we have a new "anchor baby" that is a "premie" who winds up in our neonatal intensive care unit for weeks or months and racks up bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Who pays those bills? The tax payers of course! We had one baby recently whose bills exceeded $1 million.

Perhaps the best idea would be to have the INS patrol hospital emergency rooms and snatch up illegals and transfer them for practice for young army medics. After treatment, the illegals could then be kept in military custody until deportation.

Originally Posted by usatime

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!

5 years ago you must have gone on a good day, cause this has been happening for 20 years. North Carolina was better back then because illegals were scarcer than they are today. Lets face it, insurance is not cheap, and employers usually dont offer decent health coverage unless you are legal. Thats why you see emergency rooms STUFFED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. And guess who picks up the tab? LEGAL TAXPAYERS!