Posted on 10/30/2007 2:41:39 PM PDT by BGHater
PHOENIX (AP) — The federal government has reimbursed Arizona hospitals and doctors $92 million over the past two years to offset unpaid bills for emergency care provided to undocumented immigrants.
Arizona hospital executives say they are grateful for the financial help, but it’s still not enough to offset the bulk of costs associated with providing emergency health care to illegal immigrants.
To make up the shortfall, hospitals say they are forced to raise the costs of basic hospital services for everyone else.
“It becomes part of the bad debt of hospitals,” said Rich Polheber, chief executive officer of Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales.
Carondelet operates one hospital in Nogales at the U.S.-Mexican border and three in the Tucson area. The Carondelet hospitals provided about $15.5 million worth of care to immigrant patients over the past two years, and the hospital network collected $2.4 million under the program, the company said.
That means less than 16 percent of the hospital group’s undocumented-immigrant-related bills were paid.
As a southern Arizona Level 1 trauma center, University Medical Center in Tucson handles the most critical accidents in the region.
The hospital typically absorbs $6 million each year in hospital costs and treats about 1,300 foreign-national patients that may or may not be in the United States legally, said Greg Pivirotto, University Medical Center’s chief executive officer.
Federal aid to hospitals dealing with an immigrant health care crunch could end next year.
The program was designed as a temporary fix for overburdened health care providers, and Arizona hospitals realize the financial aid may vanish at the end of fiscal 2008.
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl pushed for the measure to help hospitals offset the costs with the idea that a comprehensive immigration-reform bill would take care of the problem.
wait, the media says the illegals just ‘add’ to the economy.
both political parties have failed to uphold the constitution. no one cares until we have a recession.
Arizona hospital executives say they are grateful for the financial help, but it’s still not enough to offset the bulk of costs associated with providing emergency health care to illegal immigrants.
To make up the shortfall, hospitals say they are forced to raise the costs of basic hospital services for everyone else.
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Taxpayer dollars going to treat your employees with the added bonus of Americans still having to pay higher fees to offset your employees' costs.
Good thing it wasn't the American taxpayer who did this "reimbursing." I'd feel resentful.
Heh, now THAT’s genuinely “free healthcare” from the perspective of Mexican nationals.
I wonder why this story isn’t on the front page of the NYT.
This is not good.
What's an "undocumented immigrant"? It seems to imply that someone has immigrated into the country and lacks some sort of document. Have they lost this document? If they could find it could they pay the hospital bill themselves instead of asking me to chip in? I mean, I don't mind if they go to the doctor but I've got quite a few bills of my own to take care of.
When my kids are sick, I actually pay the bill with my own money. I wonder if I should start asking the undocumented immigrants to help out with the medical expense---and maybe buy me a tank of gas or something. Oh, I forgot they misplaced their document and can't pay right now.
Because the NYT has evolved into The Daily Worker writ large.
This year my son was in hospital for two weeks - had to get better to get surgury..
Anyway, he was billed $5K PER DAY for his hospital room.
Gotta pay more to make up for the “pour and starvin” - AKA., another not so hidden tax thanks to the FedGov and the lack of enforement.
Do the math. The reimbursement is only about 20% of the total cost.
95mil/2=46 million per year
If 46 million per year is 20% of the total cost that means they are actually spending about 225 million per year on illegal immigrants.
Makes that 95 mil look small.
First typo beget other typos
95 mil should be 92 mil
20% of the cost.....how magnaminous : )
Talk about rose-tinted glasses...laws are not going to change the behavior of illegals. This is the same line of thinking we see with NY Gov. Spitzer - that giving DLs to illegals will have them purchasing auto insurance. Right. When pigs fly.
ping
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