Thread: I just don't see how we can afford anymore in our hospitals

I am a nurse in a major hospital on the East coast. For job protection, I will say no more. But I just cannot fathom how we as a nation can afford all of these foreign nationals, illegals, whatever they are, in our hospitals.

Every other person I've taken care of in the past month has been here illegally, with no insurance. Most say they are "visiting" their relatives here. They ARE visiting -- they are coming in from Africa, Asia, and of course, South America. Many are elderly, aging, are receiving absolutely the BEST care, the most expensive tests, are here for lengthy stays for very complicated conditions. Not just Mexicans . ..many, many elderly Asian people here -- they are brought over by their younger family members and are just coming here to be taken care of, age and die.

And then there are the garden variety illegals, many in for traumatic injuries related to their unsafe working envirnments -- I've also seen several in lately for just plain old alcohol abuse. So, It's OUR job to get them sober for 3 days and just send them back out into society. So, they are taking up beds due to alchohol abuse. I also had one the other day with a traumatic brain injury due to a auto accident who was just a total care invalid -- no guess as to how much he is costing the American people -- he happened to grab my shirt and almost tear it off the other night he was so mentally incapacitated.

I'm sorry -- I just have to vent here. No amount of sanity exists at my workplace --we just ask no questions and are forced into providing them the BEST care possible. WHO is paying for this? It's got to be either county taxpayers or the federal government, providing these hospitals subsidies. NO hospital could stay in business when 95% of its patients are unable to pay.

I'm just so tired of seeing it. I just see millions and millions being spent on these people. As nurses, we work with aging equipment, have to make do with less and our demands constantly increase. We have to find interpreters, put up with 100 family members in a room when any of them are ill -- be around them with God Knows What sort of diseases they have. We are desperately short of nurses and techs and many nights have a hard time even getting the staff in to work.

What makes me so sad is when an elderly American citizen comes in for care and then they have to share a room with one of these people and their umpteen million family members, all making a racket and staying and wandering in and out of the room. Here are these Americans, many WWII vets, or just Americans who have worked all their lives here, paid into the system, and now at the time when they are due their care, they have to share it with this.

Sorry for the long vent, but I see it every day, see them wandering in and out, see the names, the faces, and I see the decay. However, our hospital just keeps building, keeps putting on additional wings, expanding more and more to take care of all of this. But we as nurses can't get raises, can't get additional staff, can't even find enough linens or trash cans some nights .....I could go on and on.

This made me sick to my stomach to even read jjmm!

Simply disgusting! These people have absolutely no respect for anyone other than themselves. I do not know how you do it, as I know I couldn't.

Every other person I've taken care of in the past month has been here illegally, with no insurance. Most say they are "visiting" their relatives here. They ARE visiting -- they are coming in from Africa, Asia, and of course, South America. Many are elderly, aging, are receiving absolutely the BEST care, the most expensive tests, are here for lengthy stays for very complicated conditions. Not just Mexicans . ..many, many elderly Asian people here -- they are brought over by their younger family members and are just coming here to be taken care of, age and die






I have seen so many abuses of our systems....medical care and SS.....by both legal immigrants and illegal aliens when it comes to their older relatives. And it burns me up.

Since AZ passed a law denying all but emergency care for illegals, I've listened to one complaint after another from people literally in a rage because this or that family member has been denied expensive surgeries and treatments they fully feel they should be given for free.

We have a tenant on this property who, while waiting for the big amnesty to breeze right through last summer, brought over his parents and in- laws. They filled out all of the social security forms in advance and were just waiting, looking forward, he said, to them being able to get the money and medical care they "deserve".

"Deserve"? Deserve for never having worked a day in their lives in this country? Never having contributed a cent to SS? Not having one intention of living in America because they "hate it here", and have a beautiful home and property in Mexico they see no reason to leave except for the purposes of coming here briefly for medical care and to pick up prescriptions?

Things like this are enough to make anyone's blood boil, not the least of those being the people who must work with and witness the abuse of our system by these people every day of the week.

This country has been the victim of the biggest, premeditated crime spree ever recorded in history

It's staggering to think how much money is being wasted to treat illegals and others who do not even belong in this country. Legalized citizens who bring elderly family members over for a "visit" and then commence expensive medical treatments these people should not be entitled to. All the while we just welcome them with open arms as these people get the I "deserve" it attitude.

Makes my blood boil, especially when we have American Citizens who go bankrupt paying for expensive medical treatments because they have no insurance. How many illegals have to go bankrupt because of expensive medical care received.

How much longer can this go on I wonder.

jjmm,
Frst of all, thank you for your hard work and dedication. I have the utmost respect for nurses and the nursing profession, based on my first hand observations and interactions with nurses who took great care of my family members in hospitals. I'm sure my sentiments are shared by many.

What you outline is distressing, untenable and unnacceptable. We are a humane country and although we should help those who are injured or sick regardless of status, the simple fact is we can't afford to do this anymore especially as this applies to complex and expensive hospital care. I could go on and on about how many hospitals in Cali have closed because of the crushing costs of paying for the "uninsured" (i.e., largely illegal) population.

Our country has the moral and practical obligation to take care of its own citizens first, those who have worked hard and paid taxes into the system their whole lives. We can't keep keep subsidizing the indigent and others from around the world due to our lax and unenforced immigration laws.

Very sad situation politicans have put our country in, I wish I knew how we were going to get it stopped. It just isn't right they think we should pay for everyone they decide to let into this country or who enters illegaly.

They need to demand when they give out a visa that the person must have health Insurance when visiting or living here! This can not go on, it is destroyig our health care system.

I wonder how quickly this travesty can be fixed if every single citizen refused to give their SSN or medical insurance cards at ER's across the country?

Will the for profit companies who own the hospitals wake up? Will our government wake up?

This is what we get by leaving our doors wide open.

My wife and I who are seniors who pay high insurance premiums both via government and private insurance so we may continue to receive some care, some months back my wife made a trip to the emergency room we had to wait in line nearly 4 hours behind what I believe to be illegal folks who did not pay, that visit cost our insurance nearly $1,200 plus I paid $200 out of pocket, so while we have worked over 80 years combined I still must pay for those without insurance and too make matters worse non-citizens.

Make no mistake people we are fast becoming a third world nation and those of you under 39 years of age should be outraged over the condition and policies of this country.

Well there is a canidate in the race named Ron Paul who will stop giving subsidies to illegal aliens. Go to his website, ronpaul2008.com. He is the only canidate that wants to end anchor babies. If you want this problem solved I suggest that you look into him. We are already making a difference on the state level. If he got into office things would really straighten out. If you vote for any other canidate you will be fighting AMNESTY after AMNESTY! Open border lobbiest don't even bother to talk with Ron Paul because they know he would never support them.