This $1B won't begin to cover the expense. The hospitals are required to treat the illegals, due to laws passed by the government. Other laws threaten them if they "discriminate"-- this bill would have been a Catch-22 (Discriminate, and then we'll get you for discriminating). The hospital interests are smart enough to see a lose-lose here. They know EMTALA, COBRA, and HCFA wouldn't cut them a break, and they'd just end up in court for a whole new reason.
Let the hospitals shut down their ERs. This is the exit that I've been watching for a long time. Do you realize that in most states a hospital is not required by law to run an ER? It is a liability nightmare, a huge money loser. It's amazing so many are still open.
The bill should have been about enforcement, not identification. Make the feds do their jobs--the problem is that our present immigration laws go completely unenforced.
I find it interesting how hospitals in rural America have been closing right and left --- no one cares about the access those Americans might have to health -- especially emergency care --- but the hospitals along the border are being sent massive amounts of dollars --- $20 million isn't unusual -- to keep them afloat --- so the citizens from Mexico keep their access.