Posted on 09/25/2004 6:54:18 PM PDT by JackelopeBreeder
COEUR D'ALENE -- The Idaho Association of Counties said it will try to pass legislation next year that would stop local governments from having to pay for medical care of illegal immigrants.
The taxpayer-funded organization made the decision at its annual conference this week in northern Idaho.
The proposed law would allow county governments to reject financial assistance applications for medical care under the state's indigent medical laws, plus other services currently used by illegal immigrants.
Twin Falls County Commissioner Gary Grindstaff said the federal government should be footing the bill, not the counties.
"They sneak in here illegally and (the federal government) doesn't take much responsibility when they do," Grindstaff said. "We think the federal government should pay for it if they're going to let them sneak in. Still, it's tax dollars one way or the other."
Grindstaff said the resolution could be a "Catch 22" for Twin Falls County "because we own the hospital. If the county doesn't pay, the hospital will have to take care of them anyway."
The effort is being championed by Robert Vasquez, the Canyon County Commissioner who recently tried to invoice the government of Mexico $2 million for reimbursement of jail and medical treatment costs of that country's citizens.
Vasquez said the change will serve notice "that medical care is no longer an option that Idaho taxpayers will freely provide," Vasquez said.
"We need to deal with this issue before it becomes a crisis not only for Canyon County, but all of Idaho," he said.
Gerald Goodenough, an Oneida County commissioner, cast the only vote against the resolution.
"They are providing services, doing jobs our citizens won't do," Goodenough said. "When they end up getting sick, what do we do?"
But Vasquez said that hospitals, which already pass on many medical bills as uncollectible, should not be passing the burden of illegal immigrants to counties.
"We're not going to refuse to give care to people coming to the emergency room," he said. "But after-care is not an emergency."
Vasquez refused to discuss his own lineage.
"I don't see myself as Hispanic or Spanish. I'm an American," he said.
State law requires county governments to pay up to $10,000 for qualified applicants. For bills higher than the $10,000 limit, the Catastrophic Health Care Cost Program kicks in to pay the rest.
The medical indigent program is not an entitlement, a grant or a gift. When patients file their applications, the county files a lien against their property, which could include their home, personal property or future earnings.
Other members of the Association of Counties were not available for further comment on Thursday.
Leo Morales, a farmworker advocate and organizer with Idaho Community Action Network, said the counties' efforts are ill-informed attempts to vilify an entire class of people.
"Undocumented community members are also making contributions and paying taxes," Morales said. "It's absurd to not offer any services to people in the community who also pay taxes."
Morales said Vasquez's "extreme ideas" are not represented by the vast majority of Idaho residents.
Ping!
If welfare wasn't more attractive than working, Americans would fill these jobs.
This is either the third or fourth article I've posted about the esteemed Mr. Vasquez.
Maybe I should email him a courtesy copy of Arizona's Proposition 200. It is chock full of similar good ideas.
You mean that some government officials IN THIS COUNTRY have finally figured out that it is AN OBSCENE PROPOSITION THAT ANY TAXPAYER IN THIS COUNTRY PAY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS IN ANY FORM OR FASHION????
This is scary -- WHERE DID THIS LOGIC COME FROM ???
This should be every American's attitude, and it's how American citizens should relate to each other.
Other stories you may have missed:
Shuttling Between Nations, Latino Gangs Confound the Law
Border Patrol's Naco Station receiving high-tech upgrades
Heads Up Orange County, CA! The Coronado/Sanchez debate has been canceled!(Sanchez is a "no-show")
US House votes to kill key provision in Mexican trucking deal
Report: 10,000 people in U.S. work in forced labor
Scam spotlights smuggler savvy
Calif. Won't Pay Those Sent to Mexico in Depression
Latino Vote Still Lags Its Potential
(San Diego) Board of Supervisors ask for tougher voter ID
Violence-scarred LA communities fear loss of trauma center
(CA) Governor says 'no' to claims for those sent to Mexico in 1930s
If these guys keep it up, I'm going to have to consider a move to Idaho. I like this.
Bump!
Reduce Goodenough's pay to 5 bucks an hour and see how long HE is willing to do THAT job.
MYTH = It's the job.
TRUTH = It's the offered pay.
send this to T :)
Political correctness demands these illegal aliens be refered to as "Undocumented Workers". Now they are calling themselves the "undocumented community" and claim they are entitled to benefits because they are paying taxes. They should be sent back to where they came from and pay taxes there and work for medical benefits in their own countries.
Why?
I like this guy. He's got a spine. We need an American Nationalist like Mr. Vasquez as Commander in Chief.
Legally speaking, no reason at all. The hospital is only required to provide emergency treatment and stabilization.
If I was a hospital administrator I'd be looking at this equation:
Full uncompensated treatment = $xx,000 or even $xxx,000.
Plane ticket to Mexico City = $1000 or less.
Cut your losses, slick.
How about....deport them? Load them onto old schoolbuses, and drive them to the border and drop them off.
Judges: $2 million illegal
should have stayed in U.S.
Appeals court says hospital erred
in sending Guatemalan home after
2 years of treatment
Source: WorldNetDaily
There are other problems though --- for example here a lung cancer patient came up from Mexico --- legally with a visitor visa --- like so many do --- to have free health care provided by the chump taxpayers here. He got his free MRIs, Cat Scans, chemo and all the rest --- he was ready to go back home --- all the emergency care and expensive free chemo and radiation was already given --- but the problem was the oxygen tank he needed --- the Mexican government wouldn't provide him one. So he has to stay here and get routine follow-up care provided to him by us.
It's very important that a very large portion of the freebies from Mexico come here perfectly legally --- they arrive with shopping passes and visitor visas --- but head right on over to a medical center instead. Or they come to visit an aunt --- legally --- and happen to give birth during the visit --- then stay forever collecting the welfare checks from the baby.
Bill the federal government enough and eventually someone in DC will wake up... or not.
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