ILLEGAL ALIENS USE FEWER MEDICAL SERVICES THAN CITIZENS
Report: Illegal immigrants use fewer medical services than citizens
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer NORTH COUNTY TIMES
NORTH COUNTY -- A new study suggests the public cost of providing health care to illegal immigrants may be much lower than other studies have found.
Adult illegal immigrants cost American taxpayers $1.1 billion, or about 1.2 percent of the $88 billion spent annually on publicly funded health care, according to the study released Tuesday by the Rand Corp., a private, nonprofit organization that conducts research on a wide range of issues, including education, poverty, crime and national security.
In contrast, a study released in 2004 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization that promotes stricter immigration policies, found that providing medical services to illegal immigrants cost taxpayers $1.4 billion in California alone.
The federal government paid about $2.2 billion in medical treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants, according to a 2004 study by the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports stricter immigration measures.
The Rand study, published in the November/December issue of the Journal of Health Affairs, based its findings on an analysis of a survey conducted in 2000-01. The survey included 2,400 Los Angeles County residents between ages 18 and 64.
Based on their findings, researchers estimated the national health care costs.
The cost of providing public services to illegal immigrants has long been a source of controversy among politicians, researchers and the public. The debate over estimates flared again in August when GOP leaders held numerous congressional field hearings on the subject, including several in San Diego County.
James Smith, a Rand researcher and the study's author, said the study indicates the debate should focus on public education and other services rather than health care costs.
"Our findings show a relatively small amount of tax money is spent on health services provided to undocumented immigrants," said James Smith, a Rand researcher and the study's author. "Costs are much higher for educating the children of undocumented immigrants, so that's where the debate should center, not the relatively small health care costs."
Jack Martin, who authored the federation's study, said he was skeptical about the Rand study's findings.
"With a small sample of 2,400 (immigrants surveyed), it's very difficult to generalize on a national level," Martin said.
To arrive at the cost of providing health care to illegal immigrants, Martin's study used an earlier 2000 analysis of health expenses paid by border counties that concluded California spent $908 million on medical care for immigrants.
Martin said he adjusted the 2000 figure for increases in the population and inflation of the cost of providing health care and estimated that the state spent about $1.4 billion in 2004.
But estimating the cost of health care for illegal immigrants is difficult because federal law prohibits hospitals from collecting data on patients' immigration status. Smith said the Rand researchers decided to use the Los Angeles survey because it included detailed information on participants' legal status.
The study found that illegal immigrant adults make up about 12 percent of the population in Los Angeles, but account for only about 6 percent of public medical costs. Smith said immigrants reported using relatively few health services, primarily because they are generally healthier than their American-born counterparts.
While illegal immigrants are generally healthier as a group, larger numbers of them tend to lack health insurance, according to the study. It found that 68 percent of illegal immigrants were uninsured compared with 17 percent of the U.S.-born population.
A researcher at Cal State San Marcos said the Rand study's methodology appears to be sound, but acknowledged its limitation in relying heavily on the Los Angeles survey to make national assumptions about the illegal immigrant population.
"Immigrant use of health care has always been overestimated," said Gerardo Gonzalez, interim vice president for research at Cal State San Marcos. "Undocumented immigrants don't use health care services at the rate that they could because of the fear of being apprehended."
However, critics of the study said statistics, such as the high rate of uninsured, show how illegal immigrants strain public health resources.
"The assumption that immigrants are healthier makes sense, but it is offset by them working in occupations that are more dangerous and more prone to accidents," Martin said.
Wire reports contributed to this story.
-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com
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Re: ILLEGAL ALIENS USE FEWER MEDICAL SERVICES THAN CITIZENS
Quote:
Adult illegal immigrants cost American taxpayers $1.1 billion, or about 1.2 percent of the $88 billion spent annually on publicly funded health care, according to the study released Tuesday by the Rand Corp., a private, nonprofit organization that conducts research on a wide range of issues, including education, poverty, crime and national security.
Heelloooo!!
The typical illegal immigrant is not "healthier" than Americans, they are just as "adults" younger. Young Americans that same age are healthy. They took a sample of young adult illegal aliens and compared it to our entire population which includes our seniors.
They also only sampled "adults" ... so what about all the illegal alien kids clogging the schools and emergency rooms? You can't measure the cost of health care for illegal aliens if you exclude their children ... good grief .. go to any ER room and see who is there ... sick babies, sick kids ... tons of them.
Why would anyone do a study of only "adult" illegal aliens when the authors of the study point out that compared to the cost of educating their children it's almost nothing? Obviously they know the number of illegal alien kids involved because they're whining about the cost of education as being the focus of anti-illegal movements and not their precious healthcare. Well kids get sick; they get colds; flu; stomach aches; fevers; mumps; measles; chicken pox; sore throats; and they all go to the HOSPITAL for treatment .. specifically ... the ER ... the most expensive place for such and the care is provided free of charge under the laws of most states maybe even federal law.
:roll:
