Posted on 03/12/2004 11:36:07 AM PST by Dubya
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AND JPS
More than 1,100 undocumented immigrants have been approved for charitable care at JPS Health Network clinics since mid-January, when hospital district officials were told that such care is required by state law.
The mandate is unfunded, hospital officials said, and could fall squarely on the shoulders of local taxpayers.
According to a report requested by health network trustees, about 24 percent of the people approved for indigent health care in February were undocumented immigrants residing in Tarrant County.
"That's more than I expected," said Harold Samuels, chairman of the health network's board. "I guess the word has gotten out."
Alberto Govea, District 21 director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, applauded the numbers. "Health care is a basic need, and I look forward to the day when everyone has access to health care," Govea said. "Access to health care is something that LULAC is always going to advocate for."
The newly approved patients have been certified indigent in the network's charitable care program, called JPS Connections, said Gale Pileggi, the network's chief financial officer. There is only a slight chance that the network will receive any payment from the new enrollees, Pileggi said.
The report will also be useful as hospital district officials discuss the new law with state legislators, said Dan Serna, health network trustee.
"I have yet to talk to one who understands the full impact of this legislation," Serna said.
The report shows that 254 applicants designated as undocumented were approved for subsidized care during the last two weeks in January and that 905 were approved in February, the first full month that expanded access was available.
The health network board decided in mid-January to extend clinic care to undocumented immigrants in Tarrant County.
Hospital attorneys argued that changes to a huge bill that reorganized the Texas health care system also mandated charitable clinic care at public hospitals for eligible undocumented immigrants.
State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, has asked the attorney general's office to decide whether state law mandates the change or leaves the decision up to individual hospital districts.
The deadline for a response from the attorney general's office is Aug. 2, a spokesman said.
Diversity sure doesn't come cheap, does it.
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