Mexican medics take sick to U.S.
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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Mexican ambulance drivers are transporting hospital patients unable to pay for medical care or emergency-room services in their country to facilities in the United States, where their treatment is mandated by federal law, authorities said yesterday.
The border crossings have been reported from Brownsville, Texas, to Douglas, Ariz., and involve Mexican ambulance companies whose drivers have been instructed by hospital officials in Mexico to take ailing and uninsured patients to the United States, the authorities said.
The patients are being transported through the U.S.-Mexico border's many unguarded crossings when hospitals along the border are reporting losses of more than $200 million in unreimbursed costs for treating illegal aliens, and the numbers continue to rise.
"It's a phenomenon we noticed some time ago, one that has expanded very rapidly," said a federal law-enforcement official familiar with the problem. "Hospitals in Mexico are pointing the ambulances north when they discover a patient can't pay for services and has no insurance. They know they can get treatment in this country."
The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act mandates that U.S. hospitals with emergency-room services treat anyone who presents themselves for care, including illegal aliens. The act does not say who is liable for the costs.
Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican and sponsor of legislation to reimburse border hospitals for their mounting losses, said the influx of illegal aliens had "severely" affected Arizona's health care system and that increased demands would make matters worse.
Mr. Kyl said the federal government "has not been willing" to provide financial support to health care providers along the border to pay for the federally mandated treatment of illegal aliens.
"Some emergency rooms have shut down, and others will close because they simply cannot afford to stay open," he said. "Meanwhile, taxpaying American citizens are denied care or have to wait an inordinate time to receive emergency care.
"We have the opportunity to welcome thousands of legal visitors to our state every day who provide a boost to tourism, help us increase awareness of our two nations' cultures and contribute to our state's economy and we will continue to do so while addressing the issues that arise from those seeking to cross our border in violation of federal law," he said.
Mr. Kyl's reimbursement bill, which he plans to reintroduce, languished in committee, and the Bush administration showed little interest in it.
Illegal aliens, particularly in Arizona, have inundated hospitals along the border.
The Southeast Arizona Medical Center in Douglas is on the verge of bankruptcy because of uncompensated care to undocumented aliens; the Cochise County Health Department spends as much as 30 percent of its annual $9 million budget on illegal aliens; and the Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee was hit for $200,000 in uncompensated services out of a net operating income of $300,000.
The University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., faces up to $10 million this year "in uncompensated care to foreign nationals," and the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in the city lost $1 million treating illegal immigrants in the first quarter of fiscal 2002.
A recent study by the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health on the treatment of undocumented aliens said the "routine transfer" of patients by Mexican ambulances from Agua Prieta, Mexico, to Douglas remains a problem, adding that the drivers encountered "little resistance" at border crossings.
The committee said that contributing to the "already excessive cost of treating illegal immigrants" was the price of transporting by helicopter those patients in Douglas who need further treatment to medical facilities in Tucson and Phoenix. The panel said the cost ranged from $7,000 to $20,000 a trip.
"If rural hospitals in the area become financially strapped and are unable to pay for this type of transportation, helicopter services will be forced out of business, plummeting health care services in rural areas back to their 1980s status," it said.
A recent study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition said 77 hospitals along the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas face "a medical emergency."
The study said one in four dollars of uncompensated emergency medical costs for the Southwest border hospitals was attributable to undocumented migrants.
It calculated the losses at $79 million in California, $74 million in Texas, $31 million in Arizona and $6 million in New Mexico. It also said that emergency service providers incurred an additional $13 million in uncompensated costs.
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Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
Jeez and the sheeple blame the insurance companies for increasing health insurance rates.
Its a good trick the goobermint is pulling- allowing illegals to banktrupt our medical system so it can take it over and be a savior to the people.[:@]
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Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
I was pretty shocked when I read this. I've always thought that the "illegals" using our medical services were the illegals that were living in this country.
Fng - please don't have a corinary over this
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Caution - Some posts may contain sarcasim
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is proposing that thousands of refugees and people granted asylum in the United States get more time to become Americans, avoiding the loss of federal disability payments because they are not citizens.
In his proposed budget, Bush said people who legally have been in the country at least seven years should have an additional year before they lose Social Security disability payments.
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A statement that accompanied Bush's budget plan said the administration ``recognizes that some individuals have been unable to obtain citizenship within seven years due to a combination of processing delays, and for asylees, statutory caps on the number who can become permanent residents.''
Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the proposal is a good start but should be broadened.
``There should be no cap for refugees and asylees,'' he said. ``They should be eligible regardless of how long they've been in the country.''
A 1996 welfare reform law required all those seeking asylum and refugees who entered the United States after Aug. 22, 1996, to become citizens in seven years or lose their monthly Supplemental Security Income checks.
The deadline was in part the result of the belief that some immigrants were bringing disabled parents to this country and immediately placing them on SSI.
The Social Security Administration began sending letters in September to about 4,000 people who missed the deadline, saying their SSI benefits were suspended. When that happened, the immigrants also lost eligibility for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and elderly.
The benefits could be restored when the immigrants become citizens.
An additional 8,500 people are expected to lose benefits this year, the agency said.
An administration official said the extension would not be retroactive.
Bush recently has said that U.S. immigration laws should be made more rational and more humane. He has asked Congress to create a temporary work program that he said could help provide more secure borders.
To become citizens, immigrants must be knowledgeable in English and pass tests on American history and civics. Some of the refugees and asylum-seeker are too old or sick to learn the necessary material, advocates say.
Also, becoming a citizen can take longer than seven years in some cases because of a backlog of applications for citizenship, legal permanent residency and other immigration benefits.
Asylum-seekers face a worse problem. Federal law allows only 10,000 of them annually to become legal permanent residents, a first step to obtaining citizenship.
Some asylum-seekers are now waiting at least 16 years to apply for citizenship, said Adey Fisseha, policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, an immigration advocacy group.
Efim Rabinovich, a Latvian refugee living in New Haven, Conn., is among those who lost SSI benefits. Rabinovich has Parkinson's disease, which has affected his ability to speak English and pass the citizenship test. Still, he would have met the deadline had immigration officials not mishandled his application, family members said.
He is appealing the termination and has enlisted the help of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
``We simply are desperate,'' said Rabinovich's son-in-law, Efim Kinber.
Ethan Enzer, director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Hartford, Conn., said his agency only received Rabinovich's file in 2003. It first had to be processed by the Nebraska office, he said.
Mexican medics take sick to U.S.
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