Mexico plans health care for migrants

Acknowledging many of its citizens in the United States lead risky lives without medical coverage, the Mexican government will unveil a new program next month offering them unprecedented access to treatment — back home.

Meant as a move to improve both health care and relations with its northern neighbor, the program actually is an extension of Mexico's Seguro Popular, a national low-cost health care system akin to Medicare. The government covers most of the cost.

About 400,000 migrants are expected to be eligible this year, said Juan Fernández Ortiz, a national health commissioner in charge of the program. He said President Vicente Fox will officially launch the program in Zacatecas in August.

"We want Mexican citizens in the United States to know that now they can come back home and be assured of medical care," Fernández said. "At the same time, we'd expect to reduce costs to U.S. hospitals."

A study this year concluded Houston-area hospitals will take a $50 million hit in uncompensated costs of treating undocumented migrants, while a more comprehensive report in 2000 found border county hospitals lost $200 million that year to treat and transport them.

U.S. government officials and health care analysts were unaware of the move. When told about it, they welcomed it with lukewarm optimism, praising its intentions but questioning how well it will work in practice.

Adolfo Rodríguez, president of Club Guanajuato in San Antonio, who represents a Mexican state that, like Zacatecas, is known for its high count of U.S-bound émigrés, welcomed the program.

"That will be really great," he said. "So many of our paisanos don't have any medical insurance. Now at least they'll have something at home, which is better than nothing here."

Undocumented immigrants can seek medical care at U.S. emergency rooms, but those facilities can't address chronic or complicated conditions. Those from Mexico currently can get treatment back home but have a hard time making their way through that nation's labyrinthine health care bureaucracy.

Under the new program, they won't get the run-around — they'll get immediate, low-cost care, Fernández said.

He said the program merely is a first step toward a more sophisticated system. Eventually, he said, enough funds will be available to fly people with serious medical conditions home.

And ideally, he added, the program will work out agreements with U.S. insurance companies so immigrants can get immediate access to basic medical services here.

The new program will not question migrants' legal status in the United States but will require their families in Mexico to sign them up, Fernández said.

Though it'll be launched in the non-border state of Zacatecas, eventually it will include all government-run hospitals and clinics, he said.

Immigrants in South Texas, for example, would be able to receive care across the border in cities like Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo.

Though he saw it as a good move, Manuel Robles Linares, executive director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Association in El Paso, questioned the program's ultimate popularity.

Most migrants here illegally won't want to share personal information with Mexican government officials — fearing it also could be shared with U.S. officials — and will hesitate to go south of the border for treatment because of the risks involved in returning north, Robles said.

He also suspected the timing of the announcement could be linked to politics. Mexico holds presidential elections next year and it's still pursuing a seemingly unending quest to reach a definitive immigration accord with U.S. leaders.

Still, Robles noted, even if not many migrants take advantage of Seguro Popular, it will at least ensure medical coverage for their families in Mexico. Plus, he added, it should reduce U.S. hospitals' monetary bleeding.

For Ronald Dutton, director of the Office of Border Health at the Texas Department of State Health Services, the most interesting — and challenging — goal of the new program will be connecting with U.S. insurance companies.

It would be an unprecedented step in offering coverage to thousands of undocumented people that otherwise wouldn't seek medical help, he said.

U.S. hospital officials weren't too confident the program would save them much money.

Treating everyday emergencies will still take its toll, said Leni Kirkman, spokeswoman for the University Health System in San Antonio.

But at least the Mexican government will be able to take on longer-term, complicated and likely expensive cases that would be unavailable to undocumented migrants here, she said.

Fernández readily recognized the program isn't all-encompassing. But he dismissed criticism that it won't work.

He already has seen data showing migrants do go home to see doctors and then return north, so he doesn't buy the argument that not many will sign up.

And they won't need to worry about passing along personal information — all inquiries will be handled through their families in Mexico, so they'll never even have to talk to government officials.

Fernández did concede that U.S. hospitals will still handle emergency care, but insisted that Seguro Popular will open doors for medical treatment that most migrants would deem out of their reach, including organ transplants and treatment for strokes, AIDS and other diseases.

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This is wonderful news. Mexico is going to take care of it's people now. Hey you latino illegals can all pack up and go the hell home now ok?

It would save a lot of red tape and time if we just treated them here and sent the bill to Vicente Fox. Start now! This program could be scheduled to start after the next Mexican election, and then be allowed to fizzle out from lack of enthusiasm, if you get what I mean....!

This is designed to fit in with the kyl/cornyn "guest worker" program which requires the "guest workers" have some kind of health care. Its not good news or bad news. Its just part of the process. Funny that the mexican officials mentioned that they wouldnt ask the status of participants. I guess they dont feel they need to pretend that the "guest worker" program will end the illegal alien problem or that ending the illegal alien problem is anything they want to do. 15 million illegals, who "couldnt possibly be deported" now will return home if we let them become "guest workers" for 6 years 2 years at a time? lol yeah sure.

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