On Apr 18, 2006, at 10:49 AM, Miles Jackson wrote:
> Marta,
>
> I think the point many of us are trying to make (some more
> tactfully than others) are that the problems you point out about
> SSI and health care have little or nothing to do with immigration.
> Yes, they are serious problems, and yes, we should solve them.
> However, even with the harshest immigration policies--boot 'em all
> out, no social services--all the problems you identify will persist
> for disabled people in our society. The immigrants aren't the
> problem. It's strange to me that you're using them as a scapegoat.
>
> Miles
>
Miles,
What do you think about this:
High Cost of Medical Care for Illegal Immigrants Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., & Robert J. Cihak, M.D., The Medicine Men Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005 We don't want to be thought of as Scrooges post-Christmas – particularly with the dashing approach of New Year 2006 – but we did want to make some comments regarding the consequences of illegal immigration on medicine and health care. This has certainly been one of the most important and far-reaching issues of 2005. We have received many letters from readers asking us to "Please say something" on this emotional and fractional issue.
An old axiom states that what happens in California is a precursor to what happens in the rest of the nation. Unfortunately, this is true. So look for these issues to be coming to a capital in your state soon – if they haven't arrived already.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, in 2000 the population of California had the highest percent of illegal immigrants in the country. The estimate by the Immigration and Naturalization Service was that 2,209,000 aliens resided illegally in the state, which was 31.6 percent of the estimated national total. Current 2005 illegal estimates vary between 14 million and 22 million nationwide.
A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated that in 2004 the annual uncompensated cost of medical care for illegal immigrants in California was $1.4 billion. Total uncompensated educational, health care and incarceration costs were estimated to be 10.5 billion.
Care is frequently provided to illegal immigrants by emergency rooms and is provided when a crisis exists rather than as preventive practice. Both phenomena add to the high cost of health care.
For 12 states, the government pays hospitals for providing emergency services to illegal aliens. In 2005, the state of California got $70 million to help with dismal shortfalls. California's San Diego County was about $100 million in the red and Los Angeles County about $140 million.
Many California hospitals cannot afford to absorb costs and many are forced to close due to financial mandates for treating illegal immigrants. As recently reported, 84 California hospitals are closing their doors forever. Hospital closure degrades health care to all in the community and results in job losses.
Federal laws provide states incentives to provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants. All state Medicaid programs offer an endless list of services, with some states, such as Florida, literally including the kitchen sink if home repairs and maintenance are needed. Only four states check for citizenship before awarding Medicaid. California escalated – in one year – from 450,000 illegal aliens on Medi-Cal (California's version of Medicaid) in 2002 to 750,000 in 2003.
Medi-Cal covers well-baby maternity care, delivery expenses and long- term care that are incurred for children born to illegal immigrants. Thus "anchor babies" become medical insurance policies.
Noted medical lawyer Madeleine Cosman, J.D., Ph.D., wrote in her online journal on August 27, 2005, "Promoters of open borders and elevating the status of Illegal Aliens brilliantly use Americans' medical compassion against ourselves." The medical literature reports that many undocumented immigrants sequester within their bodies infectious and fatal diseases that long ago were fought and eliminated by American medicine Now illegals may carry drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, malaria, polio, leprosy, plague, dengue fever and Chagas disease.
Are there Potential Solutions?
A number of potential solutions to reducing uncompensated health care costs require federal participation, which means that senators and congressmen from California and elsewhere must introduce federal legislation while state legislators and administrators do what is within their power to improve state laws and regulations.
Some potential solutions include:
Adopt measures to systematically collect information on undocumented alien use of taxpayer-funded services. Health care providers and civil libertarians have blocked past attempts to collect such information.
Withhold foreign aid to the country of origin in the amount spent providing uncompensated medical care and refund these moneys to providers that granted services.
Require graduates of U.S. medical schools who are citizens of foreign countries to spend community service time treating illegal immigrant patients in the U.S. as contribution in kind to defray expenses billable to that country of origin.
Provide transportation to cities in country of origin where that country is able to provide medical care. Let's resolve, this New Year 2006, to promote a respectful exchange of ideas and opinions aimed at achieving a sane, safe and sensible solution to the immigration and medicine dilemma. With this goal our citizens, legal immigrants, illegal immigrants and those who desire to come to America and play by the rules will have a better quality of life. It is far easier to make progress within a win-win, rather than a win- lose or lose-lose overture. Such said, An uplifting New Year to you all! Editor's Note: Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., wrote this week's commentary. Contact Drs. Glueck and Cihak by e-mail.
Robert J. Cihak, M.D., is a Senior Fellow and Board Member of the Discovery Institute and a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., is a Visiting Fellow in Economics and Citizenship at the International Trade Education Foundation of the Washington International Trade Council. He comments regularly on medical-legal-ethical issues.