Posted on 04/09/2008 5:23:52 AM PDT by radar101
TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal fund that helps hospitals cover some of the costs of treating illegal immigrants will only be around for a few more months unless something is done and more cash is found.
Officials with University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center and Carondelet Health Network were in Washington Tuesday trying to get the federal government to keep the fund alive, rather than letting it expire in September.
Kevin Burns, chief financial officer for University Medical Center, said UMC receives $1 million to $2 million a year to help cover the estimated $5 million to $6 million in costs of caring for illegal immigrants.
The federal mandate helps with costs until a patient is stable. "The moment they are deemed stable, that program no longer covers them," Burns said. "Yet that patient could end up in a hospital bed for 20 to 30 days and we don't get any compensation for that."
The federal program set aside $250 million each year from September 2004 to September 2008 to be divided among the 50 states for the medical care of illegal immigrants.
Arizona received most of it.
Bill Pike, director of public policy and community affairs for Carondelet Health Network, said Carondelet estimates that caring for illegal immigrants and uninsured patients costs about $4 million each year. Those costs get shifted to patients who pay or have insurance, Pike said.
"We believe in 100 percent access to health care in general, but when you do have individuals show up in the ER without insurance whether they are undocumented or uninsured it creates a financial burden," Pike said.
SO—Who makes up the difference?
Those costs get shifted to patients who pay or have insurance, Pike said.
Our local hospital had to close due to the burden of illegals not paying. Now, the closest hospital is over an hour away. There is some funding of sorts for a clinic but it’s been hit and miss being only open part time and having rotating doctors coming in from elsewhere so they know nothing about their patients’ history.
We pay the difference. I had to go in for a proceedure once and the bookkeeping office flat out told me I was having to pay double because the last few patients skipped the country without paying their bill.
I don’t like govts. taking MY money and spending it on others. I especially don’t like politicians spending MY money on illegals for ANY reason.
Hey McLame, ya still trying to push amnesty for illegals?
Moron.
Instead of footing the bill for illegal aliens, perhaps it would be in our best interest if American citizens just ‘become’ illegal aliens too, with no traceable identities. What we don’t get for free, we can skip out on paying for, (hospital bills, credit cards, mortgages, car loans, etc.) simply by buying another new ‘identity’.
Let it expire.
When a few hospitals go belly-up from the cost of treating the illegals, more people will demand immigration control.
Treat all emergencies and then deport all illegals immediately. I think you will find the emergency room visits would cease.
Don't worry, the news media will spin it so that it looks like the greedy insurance companies are to blame. Or, better yet, the pharmaceutical industry.
Socialism at its worst - subsidies that support services for criminals are disgusting and morally repugnant.
The border counties and the border states.
Kaiser-Permanente inthe DC area has solved this by opening up “urgent care” centers for members. These centers are pretty much ERs under a different name. It looks like they will close most, if not all, of their emergency rooms, which have to, by law, accept whoever comes, and replace them with these urgent care centers. All of the uninsured will have to go to other places that still have emergency rooms.
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