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Thread ID: 3951 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2002-12-10
2002-12-10 20:58 | User Profile
Border Hospitals Say Immigrants Cost Them
By LYNN BREZOSKY
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Ambulances regularly race across the bridges of the Rio Grande, bringing some of Mexico's sickest to the nearest U.S. emergency room.
Obligated by federal law, the hospitals provide the care and worry later about whether the billing addresses patients give them are accurate. Often the addresses are false - and the hospitals get stuck with the bill.
Immigrant patients have inflated medical expenses for insurance companies, Medicaid and paying customers, officials say, and are overwhelming already busy hospitals in one of nation's fastest-growing regions.
One recent study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition, an American lobbying group, found U.S. border hospitals provided at least $200 million a year in uncompensated emergency care to illegal immigrants, $74 million of that in Texas.
``Shh, don't tell Iowa farmers that part of their taxes are paying for trauma that occurs south of the border,'' Dr. Lorenzo Pelly, a south Texas doctor, told state lawmakers at a recent hearing.
Republican state Sen. Chris Harris said he was shocked by what he called the ``dumping'' of Mexicans on U.S. hospitals.
Policymakers are just beginning to assess the size of the problem.
Brownsville Medical Center estimates losses averaging at least $500,000 per month. At Thomason Hospital in El Paso, officials said their first attempt to estimate the cost found $1 million over just three months.
Thomason Hospital responded by retaining a Mexican lawyer and requiring patients to sign ``pagares,'' or promissory notes, that carry weight under Mexican law. It also signed on with a firm that specializes in collecting past due accounts in Mexico.
Even without the influx from Mexico, U.S. border hospitals are straining to meet the region's growing medical needs. Some have resorted to importing doctors and offering nurses tuition grants and signing bonuses.
But the load really jumped as Mexicans looking for work stream to factories along the border. The North American Free Trade Agreement has stimulated business on both sides of the border, but hospitals have not kept up.
NAFTA ``lacks the social economic infrastructure and capacity'' to address the growth, said Eva Moya of the Mexico Border Health Commission, made up of U.S. and Mexican officials.
For the sick or injured on the Mexican side of the border, the choice in a life-or-death situation can be a three-hour journey inland to Monterrey, Mexico, or a minutes-long trip to Brownsville, Laredo or El Paso.
The issue drew attention in September, when 4-year-old Larissa Guajardo, a U.S. citizen, died of heart problems after crossing the Hidalgo-Reynosa international bridge on the way to a hospital. Family members blamed a delay caused by immigration officials, who would not let the mother enter the country. The mother lacked paperwork and had crossed the border illegally before.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service said the inspection process took only a few minutes and that inspectors did not know the girl's illness was critical. Once the seriousness was discovered, the mother was allowed to enter on humanitarian grounds, the INS said.
The Sept. 11 attacks have also complicated the situation along the border, with some authorities worrying about what the ambulances might be holding.
``It is a security threat if they are going across the border unchallenged, but at the same time, we don't want to interfere with an emergency procedure,'' said Carl Rusnok of the INS in Dallas.
The B&M International Bridge, which links Brownsville with Matamoros, Mexico, has emergency crossings down to a science, said Joe Galvan, president of the company that runs it. The company has its own security guards staffing both sides of the crossing, and in medical emergencies a call goes out for the U.S. side to clear a lane for fast passage.
Under a 1986 federal law, U.S. hospitals must treat anyone who seeks emergency care, without regard to immigration status or ability to pay. The government gives hospitals extra funding to help poorer regions absorb the costs of unreimbursed care, but hospitals say it is not enough.
This becomes a particular philosophical question that these doctors are having,'' said Dominic Dominguez, an administrator at Brownsville Medical Center.Part of my signing to serve in this community is, I'll cover this emergency room. But I didn't sign on to cover Mexico.''
On the Net:
Border health commission: [url=http://www.borderhealth.gov]http://www.borderhealth.gov[/url]
Border counties coalition: [url=http://www.bordercounties.org]http://www.bordercounties.org[/url]
12/10/02 15:24
2002-12-10 21:42 | User Profile
California is looking at a $24B deficit. They are planning to take this to the Feds for a massive bailout.
Outrageous? Sure. But we'll see what Bushie does. He can't alienate the largest state. (there are 20 or so GOP reps out there and they'd get killed if he made it a political fight) He can't win it, either, so bailing them out would not help him much.
Bushie can leave it, saying all states have problems now. But remember, 15-20% of the economy is government related. If the states start to cut back massively, the whole economy will feel it.
-J
2002-12-10 21:51 | User Profile
The most common sense thing besides banning the immigrants from entering in the first place would be for Mexico to build hospitals to care for its citizens. But, I forget, that Brownsville and El Paso are part of Atzlan, and of course, we must remember Jorge's "compassionate conservatism" and take care of our "Mexican brothers".
In the meantime I would be great to find a way to charge the hospital bills to the employers of these immigrants. Those cheap workers would be sent home quick!
2002-12-10 21:54 | User Profile
**Outrageous? Sure. But we'll see what Bushie does. He can't alienate the largest state. **
It's not like they vote Republican anymore anyhow. I think Bush will just let California twist in the wind like he did with the energy crisis....something to hang around the Dems' necks along with Gray Davis.
Sooner or later, though, you'll see a states' rights revolt over this federally mandated health care for illegals, and it will be immensely popular with the taxpayers, especially since Jorge ain't doin' squat to stop the flow.
2002-12-10 22:04 | User Profile
The most common sense thing besides banning the immigrants from entering in the first place would be for Mexico to build hospitals to care for its citizens. But, I forget, that Brownsville and El Paso are part of Atzlan, and of course, we must remember Jorge's "compassionate conservatism" and take care of our "Mexican brothers".
skemper, it gets even more interesting...a month ago there was this story in the news about US tax dollars under the auspices of the Agency for International Development going to Mexican hospitals to alleviate some of the stress on the hospitals on our side of the border:
[url=http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/1107borderhospital.html]http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/art...erhospital.html[/url]
**U.S. program to aid hospitals in Mexico
Answers Arizona's call for help paying for migrants' care**
By Hernán Rozemberg The Arizona Republic Nov. 7, 2002
Their call for help finally has been answered.
After years lamenting the lack of federal help to cover the costs of caring for undocumented immigrants, Arizona hospitals hope those unpaid bills will be greatly reduced by a new, experimental U.S. government program.
The government won't reimburse the hospitals. Rather, the idea is to improve services at Mexican-border hospitals so patients won't have to be rushed to Arizona for treatment.
The $350,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development will arrive in the form of medical equipment at the Hospital General de Nogales.
Other Mexican hospitals along the Southwestern border will be in line for aid should the Nogales, Sonora, test succeed.
The federal agency approved the grant after discussing the idea with Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., chairman of the U.S. House subcommittee on foreign operations.
"This is a blessing," said Enrique Davis, who directs the Nogales hospital. "This effort will also help build confidence in us and people will want to get treated here instead of across the border."
Kolbe spokeswoman Neena Moorjani said the grant is expected to halve costs from unpaid immigrants' bills. A September study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition estimated that U.S. border hospitals wrote off nearly $200 million in 2000, including almost $31 million in Arizona.
The new federal grant will be used by the University Medical Center Foundation in Tucson to buy new, more modern equipment for the Nogales hospital, medical center spokeswoman Barbara Felix said.
The foundation has collected $191,000 in private money, which already has translated into more supplies.
**In the meantime I would be great to find a way to charge the hospital bills to the employers of these immigrants. Those cheap workers would be sent home quick! **
I like this idea better: have stiff fines and prison sentences for the traitors that hire them. If the Feds wanted to, they could make examples out of those contractors overnight by just nailing the operations picking up day laborers in US cities and inspecting workers at construction sites for documentation.
2002-12-11 16:25 | User Profile
Kolbe spokeswoman Neena Moorjani said the grant is expected to halve costs from unpaid immigrants' bills. A September study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition estimated that U.S. border hospitals wrote off nearly $200 million in 2000, including almost $31 million in Arizona.
Sure, while here in Arizona the wait at the VA Hospital for disabled servicemen is up to 6 months. Looks like those who were wounded in defense of this country take a back seat to criminals who sneak across the border.
Makes me sick.