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The Houston Chronicle reports:
Rising numbers of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America are streaming into Texas to give birth, straining hospitals and costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, health officials say.
Doctors and health officials say they are overwhelmed by both the new arrivals and those immigrant mothers who already are in the state. Even Houston's feeling the pinch. An estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the 10,587 births at Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital last year were to undocumented immigrants, administrators say.
Harris County Hospital District officials say their policy is not to question patients directly about their citizenship.
"We do not explicitly ask if our patients are illegal, but we do ask them for proof of Harris County residency," district spokeswoman Shannon Rasp said. "Often citizenship status becomes clearer when billing issues come up."
I'll bet it does.
Labels: medical
posted by scalpel at 9:44 AM
5 Comments:
My ER is 75 miles north of the border. I have seen illegals who have crossed the border with completed massive strokes, end stage cancer, femur fractures, and of course the 39 week pregnant female 4cm dilated make it to our hospital. Border enforcement is a joke and bankrupting/jeapardizing healthcare for all.
I'm interested in knowing what you think can be done to deal with this problem. I live in Maryland and it's getting to be more of a problem at our hospital, too. The hospital is looking for Spanish speaking nurses, and is offering a bonus to attract bilingual staff. I saw our CEO standing in the hallway one day and asked if the hospital would pay for classes if I went back to school to learn Spanish. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the guy but he's cheap, and he said he would sign off on tuition reimbursement for ANYONE in the hospital who went back to school to learn Spanish.
I'm not the administrative type, and I have no interest in setting healthcare policy even at a local level, much less national. So take my opinions with a big grain of salt, because I probably don't know what I'm talking about and my crazy notions have little chance of fruition. ;)
I am strongly against socialized medicine in general, and I think the EMTALA regulations are not sustainable in the current form.
I would like to slash or eliminate the Medicare and Medicaid systems, repeal EMTALA, and allow a capitalistic system to emerge such that competition will set the true market value of medical services.
All indigent care should be provided through county hospitals and medical training programs. That would include medical care for undocumented aliens. Eliminate or strongly restrict malpractice torts involving indigent care. Sorry, but if you aren't paying, you shouldn't be bitching about your free care.
Flame suit: ON
You and Newt Gingrich are on the same page about free market medicine. I can't say I agree with all of his ideas, but I think he is on the right track...and that from a raging liberal:-)
"Eliminate or strongly restrict malpractice torts involving indigent care." Yikes!! While I think only a very small percentage of medical malpractice cases are legit (blame the lawyers), saying you can't sue b/c you're poor is just asking for trouble.
As for issue you mention, used to work in Medicaid in DC-MD-VA and childbirth was a covered service for undocumented mothers. (Ie, the hospitals could potentially get some payment for the delivery.) The trick was getting the moms to do the paperwork. (That was my job.)
The issue of needing Spanish-speaking medical personal (mentioned by Mother Jones RN) is a completely separate issue. Not every non-English-speaking Latino immigrant is undocumented. Similarly, undocumented immigrants may speak English.
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