Thread: 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

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...3411_15_06.txt

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So they base a study on 5 and 6 year old data when 20 million more have come in the 5 years since?

Break out the hip-waders folks, there's a PROPAGANDA WARNING!!!

It's all Push proproganda to soften us up for the ultimate amnesty knock-out blow!

This nonsense and speel is all over the country right now. Not worth reading, can't be true.
Why have around 80 hospitals closed in CA???
Can't put here the words I'm really thinking.

Well this report is so Wrong. Last year, a bill was passed and Bush signed it. It was for 1 billion dollars to be split between the hospitals across the nation to supplement the cost of Illegal Aliens. A spokesman for a Major Southern California Hospital System said that that was a drop in the bucket what it cost in just California for Illegal Aliens. Let alone across the country. To

This is pure BS...just like the republicans that were for border security were thrown out of office because of their stand on illegal immigration.

WE'RE NOT BUYING IT....SO FORGET THE BS.

What a load of crap. Why are hospitals closing in the Southwest???? Blatant propaganda!!

"Last month, NCTimes identified Dr. Gonzalez as the Director of the National Latino Research Center which was a co-sponsor of a Latino candidate forum hosted by the MECHA club at Cal State San Marcos. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10 ... _18_06.txt"

"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."

The county is reimbursed for emergencies and anchor baby births by the federal government Medicaid/Medicare. I'm sure they are not calculating that. The anchor babies in Texas are about 75% of the county hospital births. Don't tell me these illegal aliens are not costing us out the trap door.

Dixie