Posted on 05/09/2005 4:20:01 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Government to Reimburse Hospitals for Emergency Care for Illegal Aliens By Kevin Freking Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Health care providers can charge the government for emergency care provided to illegal aliens beginning Tuesday.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued final guidance Monday that sets up a system for reimbursement. Lawmakers set aside $1 billion over four years for the program, created by Medicare legislation passed in 2003.
For hospitals in border states, the additional money can mean the difference between running a profitable business or an unprofitable one, said Don May, vice president of policy for the American Hospital Association.
"I don't know if it will completely change their financial picture, but for those hospitals on the border, this is going to make a difference in ensuring they are there to treat the patients, not just the undocumented ones, but all the patients living in those communities," May said.
Two-thirds of the money will be distributed to health care providers based on a state's percentage of undocumented aliens. The remaining third will go to providers in the six states with the largest number of arrests of undocumented aliens.
The states receiving the highest amounts in the current fiscal year are California, $70.8 million; Texas, $46 million; Arizona, $45 million; and New York, $12.25 million.
Payments to providers will be made on a quarterly basis and will be adjusted proportionately if the bills exceed the state's allocation.
One group that advocates stricter immigration policies said the government's reimbursement of hospitals was the right thing to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.tbo.com ...
If this is true, the Liberal dream of socialized medicine and free hospitals paid for by the government begins on Tuesday, but only for citizens of OTHER COUNTRIES.
This article must be a hoax. I can't believe this is a legit article.
Same here. I'm retired. Why do I have to fork over $700 every three months for health coverage? Somethings wrong here.
ping
I agree with you. Actually, this is an improvement. Congress long ago passed EMTALA which says that anyone showing up at an emergency room must be treated. It never did bother to say who was going to pay for this little mandate. The result has been an increasing tendency for people who don't want to pay to use ERs as the 7-11 of health care convenience. Even to the extent that they give fake names and IDs.
The federal government said it would pay by giving disproportionate share payments (aka pork) to states. They were theoretically supposed to pay for the care EMTALA required but the money doesn't necessarily go to the places that actually get stuck with the bill. A little suburban hospital in my city had an illegal construction worker dumped in their ER after he fell three stories. He was paralyzed and they had to absorb the half a million his treatment cost. Since they don't see a lot of Medicaid patients they didn't get a dime from the state DSH fund.
As a result, hospitals in areas with lots of illegals (Los Angeles, Texas, Arizona)have been going bankrupt. This is a stopgap measure to make sure that the people that deliver the care the Feds require at least get paid for it. The other good thing is that it will give us an idea of what it is really costing. Currently costs are buryied in individual hospital profit and loss statements.
The next problem is how to pay the docs that staff the ERs. When they treat a free care patient the hospitals make them eat it. As a result they are not willing to staff ERs...
As with so many other problems in health care, the root cause is forcing people to give their services away without expecting payment.
You are so right on with this comment. I recently took my five year old daughter to an emergency room here in Atlanta (she had a broken elbow). While checking in I noticed that the vast majority of people waiting seemed to be Hispanic...and this was in the north side of Atlanta, not L.A. I inquired about this with the check-in attendant(i.e. do Hispanics get sicker at a higher rate than whites and blacks?) and he just laughed at first. Then he went on to tell me that 90% of the Hispanics are on Medicade with no deductible so they bring their kids in with a sniffle or a sore throat. Meanwhile I handed him my American Express to cover my $75 co-pay. What a great country we are creating.
Bush throwing a small scrap to angry America...
Bend over Freepers........Enjoy!!!!
OK by me as long as the money comes out of the foreign aid we give to their home countries.
Where's that punk Dane to tell us were all racists? LuizGonzales, you're up to bat.
No, you're supposed to say, "Yes, that dirty rat fink, President Bush, sold us down the river when he signed this stupid law!"
Or, at least that's what I always say. ;)
All of the states except Arizona are what's called sanctuary states that give aid, comfort and pander to the illegals. That is where a lot of the problems come from. These other three states run interference with the federal government to try and keep them from doing anything with the illegals.
If you were awake at 4AM the morning that they passed this bill, they may have asked you. So far as I know, this bill was snuck through the American people in the middle of the night by the REPUBLICAN Congress. We have sorry a$$ people in Washington now.
An interesting incentive to increase arrests of illegals.
"$1 billion over four years... but will that even be enough?"
250 million dollars a year will not be enough. They will send even more patience across the border once the feds help pay. It will, however, be a quick fix solution for keeping some ERs available near the border.
And get this: Mexico has is the fifth richest country in the world! Why do we give them any aid? And why do we allow such a rich country's convicts to come here for a 'fresh start'? It's not our fault that there's such vast disparity there. Maybe they need to take another look at all their socialist ideology.
LOL. I have to get that rule memorized.
Great. Now everyone who shows up without insurance will be deemed an "illegal alien" and the federal government billed for their care. That billion bucks is going to evaporate in 4 months, not 4 years.
One billion? How long will that last? A month?
And why are my hard-earned tax dollars going to pay for a bunch of illegals?
Okay, so let me see if I can remember all of this. I am now responsible for my healthcare costs, my family's healthcare costs, the one-fourth of Tennesseans on TennCare's healthcare costs, the senior citizen's on Medicare's healthcare costs, the welfare queens on Medicaid's healthcare costs, and now the stinking criminal invader's healthcare costs. Did I miss anybody?
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