AP) Graciela Barrios, an undocumented immigrant with few resources, has long relied on her county health clinic for the advice, the medication and the tests that kept her diabetes under control.
But next month, Barrios and thousands like her will be on their own, with many more people across the nation facing the same fate.
Bowing to recession-related budget pressures, Sacramento County recently took the drastic step of cutting non-emergency health services to illegal immigrants. Contra Costa County will vote on a similar measure on Tuesday.
Local health systems in other states also are facing such decisions as health officials find themselves trapped between their dwindling federal, state and local funding streams and the growing number of newly uninsured who need services.
"The general situation there is being faced by nearly every health department across the country, and if not right now, shortly," said Robert M. Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, based in Washington, D.C.
Data on the cost of health care for unauthorized immigrants is hard to come by, because community clinics and hospitals usually do not ask patients for their immigration status. But the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that of the 11.9 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, about 59 percent have no health insurance, making up about 15 percent of the nation’s approximately 47 million uninsured.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/16/health/main4867791.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories
They have been getting all kinds of freebies – which is why they are here.
Glad to see this!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Sure they do,,,,they go to the emergency room of any state hospital.
No one is left to bleed to death on the streets of the USA.
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March 19th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
They cannot recieve free healthcare, but Hospitals CANNOT refuse medical attention to anyone. So what happens there. That is why we need healthcare reform.
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March 19th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at! : http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are cause d by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.
14. ‘The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration:! Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .’
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
References :
11. Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/publications.php?b=deportation
13. Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm>
14. Verify at: http: // http://www.drdsk.com/articles.html
March 19th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
a hospital must provide aid by law if you show up in their ER.
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March 19th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I’ve seen the government cut checks to illegal immigrants for health care. In fact, I’ve done it before. Government employees are not allowed to disqualify someone for benefits based on their immigration status, even if they are blatantly using a false name and social.
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March 19th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The law usually says that illegals can’t get access to health care or other social programs, but the fact is that loopholes exist to provide those things, the loopholes are intentional.
For example, the new SCHIP expansion passed in Obama’s 2nd week contains a clause that the only requirement to verify citizenship is to answer "yes" to the question "are you a citizen?" I am not joking, that is exactly what it says.
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March 19th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Clandestine adult immigrants and rejected adult asylum seekers should only receive emergency medical care if they pay for it themselves.
The Nordic countries are considering the above because they have the same problem. The US should follow suit.
Now their children? There I tend to go soft. They should be entitled to health care.
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March 19th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Illegal or not, if you go to the emergency room of a hospital, you will be treated. If you don’t then pay for it, the treatment is "free".
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March 19th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Glad to see some movement of our local governments in the right direction, by cutting off medical help to illegals…though I am compassionate guy, but "charity starts at home", and "HOME" is U.S. citizens first, not illegals…Maybe actions such as that would persuade at least some illegals to pack-up and head SOUTH-to their home.
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March 20th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Well, you did miss that part that reads:
"Officials note that many hospitals and clinics do not ask a patient’s immigration status, in part because treating chronic conditions such as asthma and hypertension keeps patients from emergency room visits that are far less effective and more expensive."
So, if they don’t ask, then how do they know. Just because they say "Jello", instead of "Yellow" doesn’t mean they are illegally here.
And this new plan could mean a bigger cost!
"Cutting care, you save $100 today, but you may end spending $500 tomorrow when that person shows up in the emergency room because you didn’t provide them with basic medication," said Ambegaokar. "It’s shortsighted."
Not a very good plan as experts noted!
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March 20th, 2010 at 12:37 am
They have been getting all kinds of freebies – which is why they are here.
Glad to see this!
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March 20th, 2010 at 1:06 am
Nope. They go to hospitals and you foot the bill.
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March 20th, 2010 at 1:41 am
They receive "free" ER care under the EMTALA of 1895.
children & illegal children receive care under the children’s Health Ins. Re-authorization Act of 2009
All they need is an ITIN number to apply.
Seems to me they get plenty of "free" medical care. It’s an insult to US taxpayers. We are forced to pay for their "free" care, even though the majority have stated very plainly we do not want illegals here. We want incentives taken away and them deported.
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March 20th, 2010 at 1:59 am
they get the help. and thank god we’re stopping the free help. stop the free hand outs and they will leave and stop coming.
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March 20th, 2010 at 2:28 am
Friends a ER nurse in Florida> every day there’s a lot of illegals with No IDs at all that come into the ER room from everything from cuts colds heart condition> And expect to be taken in immediately with no regards to others> When done ask for a vouture for a taxi to get a ride back since they use the ambulance to get there and refuse to pay anything>> It’s crazy and very few know this is happening> Ice or the sheriff won’t do anything>
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March 20th, 2010 at 2:51 am
As a registered nurse, working in a hospital, I know first hand of the closures that are occurring due to so many illegals having ANCHOR BABIES without the ability to pay. Just like that sick-0 Octo-mom, Mexican illegals do not pay for the birth of their children.
The American taxpayers are paying for Illegals to have children, guaranteeing those babies automatic CITIZENSHIP being born in USA.
Illegals have the same rights and benefits that Citizens do in America, minus voting. Those babies are also put immediately on Welfare and Food Stamps. This doesn’t even include their obtaining stolen Identities of Citizens and using that indefinitely.
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1098224/posts