Aliens Use Health Insurance -- An Inappropriate Issue
No, not the ones from outer space, the ones who cross the Rio Grande and tie up our hospital emergency rooms throughout the United States. My question is, why is the illegal immigration issue being kept separate from the health care crisis/debate? Am I the only one that sees a link between the two? Is it possible that by keeping these issues compartmentalized that it will be ultimately impossible to solve either problem?
The cynic in me explains it away -- on a national level, Republicans won't mess with illegal Central Americans who swarm across the border every day because they need them to watch their kids and/or cut the hedges off-the-books. Democrats see them as a useful voting bloc sometime down the road. Kind of the ace up your sleeve that you just might need one day; like having your older brother/the local gov control the final vote counts in a "national election" so you can become President. Everything in life should go as well as that, unless you ended up choosing a VP that ran the entire show.
When you get done reading about Anthony Weiner's sociopathic behavior, do some research on the relationship between illegal immigration and the cost of health insurance in the US. You won't find much. What you will find is practically 10-year old information. Stuff like this:
The good news is that the problem is being addressed, to some extent, at the state level, where pragmatism still has some sway over posturing. State legislatures nationwide are attempting to limit the costs to taxpayers of illegal immigration, including health care benefits. For example, Oklahoma lawmakers restricted illegal immigrants from receiving most public benefits; other states, such as Nebraska, are seeking to follow suit. A bill introduced in Indiana would make hospitals report how much they spend on illegal immigrants. Of course, this piecemeal approach is rather silly since this will drive alien traffic to adjoining states with more liberal treatment and reimbursement provisions. Our wonderful interstate highway system will ensure a free flow of health care deadbeats in "welcoming" states.
One can only hope it continues to go this way. If it does, it will be virtually impossible to sustain this ruse of non-linkage between illegal immigration and completely out-of-control health care costs.
The cynic in me explains it away -- on a national level, Republicans won't mess with illegal Central Americans who swarm across the border every day because they need them to watch their kids and/or cut the hedges off-the-books. Democrats see them as a useful voting bloc sometime down the road. Kind of the ace up your sleeve that you just might need one day; like having your older brother/the local gov control the final vote counts in a "national election" so you can become President. Everything in life should go as well as that, unless you ended up choosing a VP that ran the entire show.
When you get done reading about Anthony Weiner's sociopathic behavior, do some research on the relationship between illegal immigration and the cost of health insurance in the US. You won't find much. What you will find is practically 10-year old information. Stuff like this:
- not all hospitals track the citizenship of patients which makes accurate, comprehensive data on the cost of providing uncompensated care to unauthorized immigrants unavailable (maybe they could start by asking the patient a question in English and see if they can answer it)
- in Texas, where the state comptroller estimates illegal immigrants cost hospitals $1.3 billion in 2006, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is considering denying cancer care to such immigrants (whether that happened or not, you can be assured that this automatically jacks up the rates charged to private insurers in Texas)
- for hospitals, "the burden of the uninsured immigrant is huge," says Jeff Spade, vice president of the North Carolina Hospital Association. "It's exploded the amount of work that they have to do." Obviously this additional labor cost is merely exacerbating the problem; US citizens now have interminable ER waits and higher costs because of the problem that politicians (and the media) fail to address.
The good news is that the problem is being addressed, to some extent, at the state level, where pragmatism still has some sway over posturing. State legislatures nationwide are attempting to limit the costs to taxpayers of illegal immigration, including health care benefits. For example, Oklahoma lawmakers restricted illegal immigrants from receiving most public benefits; other states, such as Nebraska, are seeking to follow suit. A bill introduced in Indiana would make hospitals report how much they spend on illegal immigrants. Of course, this piecemeal approach is rather silly since this will drive alien traffic to adjoining states with more liberal treatment and reimbursement provisions. Our wonderful interstate highway system will ensure a free flow of health care deadbeats in "welcoming" states.
One can only hope it continues to go this way. If it does, it will be virtually impossible to sustain this ruse of non-linkage between illegal immigration and completely out-of-control health care costs.
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