Hospitals forced to shoulder the costs of caring for illegal immigrants will get some relief over the next three years as the Bush administration releases $1 billion to cover some of the unpaid bills.
Most of the money will go to border states, such as California, Texas and Arizona, but Colorado’s 70 acute-care hospitals will be eligible for about $3.4 million. It’s not much, but it will help, says Marty Arizumi of the Colorado Health and Hospital Association. “It helps offset the burden on everyone else,” she said.
Colorado hasn’t tracked the amount of money its hospitals spend caring for illegals, largely because they don’t know which patients are illegal, Arizumi said. But with this new system, in which hospitals will be required to submit applications for the reimbursements, they’ll have a better idea.
Nationally, the $1 billion will be a drop in the bucket.
A 2002 survey of Arizona hospitals by its hospital and health care association found $153 million in losses on “foreign-national patients.” But Arizona hospitals will receive only $45 million a year.
Los Angeles County will collect about $70 million – roughly a fifth of its costs for care of illegal immigrants.
The money is part of the giant Medicare package pushed through Congress in 2003, even though it has nothing to do with the Medicare program.
Critics have assailed the spending, saying it only enables this country’s wink-wink immigration system. But the fact is, millions of illegals are in this country and they’re taxing local hospitals.
If the nation isn’t going to get serious about immigration policy, the government might as well at least cover some of the costs.
