Posted on 02/12/2014 11:22:23 AM PST by moonshinner_09
LAS VEGAS (KSNV & MyNews3) -- As a county run hospital, University Medical Center cannot refuse treatment to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
In December alone, 900 dialysis treatments were done on undocumented residents. They are uninsured, and the extensive treatment for their kidneys is not being paid for.
UMC is treating more than 20 undocumented residents with dialysis every day in the emergency room, and they come twice a week. The process takes about four hours.
"What you're doing is filtering all the blood in your body through an artificial kidney which is the dialysis, and so that huge machine is doing what your kidneys usually do," said UMC Chief of Staff, Dr. Dale Carrison.
Carrison says these patients' kidneys are failing mainly for three reasons: congenital, uncontrolled blood pressure or uncontrolled diabetes. He estimates the average age is in the 40s.
"As I sit here as an old guy, none of these dialysis patients are going to live to be my age, they're going to die. they're going to die early," Carrison said.
By law, they must be seen, with or without financial reimbursement to UMC.
"So we have this population fo undocumented that are coming here and if we don't care for them they die. From a human standpoint we do it, but it costs a huge amount of money," Carrison said.
Carrison estimates $10 million to $12 million a year and under state law the hospital can file claims for partial reimbursement but he says hundreds of those claims have not produced a dime, yet.
"Our community says, 'Well UMC is losing money'. Well what do you do? Throw these people away? Let them die? And when does that stop?" Carrison said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mynews3.com ...
"We are here for everybody and that's the beauty of UMC," Carrison said.
He says he hopes eventually some medicaid reimbursement arrives. When these hospitals do not receive payments of any kind.The hospital in turn must look for ways to save money by laying off people,reduce hours,close off certain floors.They should stabilize these illegals afterwards make arrangements to ship them home and let their hospitals pickup the tab/and their countries can be sending money to our hospitals paying for all their treatments.None of this is cheap and taxpayers are paying good money to give illegal aliens free medical care.Illegal aliens have better free medical care than Americans.
Carrison should work for free since he’s all compassionate and stuff.
Meanwhile speaking of free medical care...ADDS CREATION DATE, LOCATION AND BYLINE - This Aug. 7, 2013 photo provided by Shahraiz Bajwa and taken in Washington, D.C. shows Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa, who has been comatose since being injured in a November crash while spending a semester in an exchange program at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. His family is trying to prevent the Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth from sending him back to his home country. A hospital spokeswoman said Bajwa won’t be able to stay in the country legally after his student visa expires Feb. 28. (AP Photo/Courtesy Shahraiz Bajwa, Maryam Kamal)http://tbo.com/ap/national/family-keep-pakistani-patient-in-us-hospital-ap_national3db5a35483ef41dc88b6fa79d33c0d99
so they're going to layoff staff?...close off units?....this means less care for us....less choice...
I guess if you need a heart transplant just show up there without id and only speak spanish....
Ask a liberal why we cannot bill the country of origin at @x market price for the procedure?
[ I guess if you need a heart transplant just show up there without id and only speak spanish.... ]
We should do the heart transplant and then send a bill to the country of origin for 2X-4X the cost of the procedure...
Countries would start patrolling their own borders and immigration more closely...
Wait the taxpayers paid for treatment? How can that be government tells us there is no health care in this country.
Guess we need to pay for this treatment and, pay insurance for these people as well.
They will deny Americans care and rob the taxpayers to “care” for foreign criminal aliens
"compassionate conservatism" some call it.
I know people on dialysis here in Southern California. I personally have visited with a friend at a dialysis clinic and have seen and heard most of the patients. Most cannot speak cannot speak English or speak it in such broken fashion that they are incomprehensible. Out of 48 I have seen only 3-4 are white Americans; the rest are Hispanics and Asians. None of the employees are white Americans, except the owner, and most of the employees speak such broken English one cannot understand them. Once again my report is based upon personal observation by sight and sound.
My sister went to a hospital and gave up and left after 3 hours. Medicaid was billed $3,000+ and all she had done was sign the papers they gave her when she showed up. They did nothing, not even seen a doctor.
They should return to the countries from which they came here ILLEGALLY and avail themselves of the FREE, HIGH QUALITY CARE there.
Mexico is the 10th richest nation on Earth. Deport them right to Mexico City. If they die, it is on Mexico’s head.
“Carrison should work for free since he’s all compassionate and stuff.”
It doesn’t matter what he thinks, the law says he has to treat them. The immigration service should pick them up and send them back to their real country.
That emergency room should have people with insurance (the Medicaid ones who should have insurance now) coming in to pay for the service they always got free before. They shouldn’t be going there anyway since they now have insurance - they should go to a doctor like the rest of us do, instead of clogging up emergency rooms.
The whole medical insurance system is a mess due to Husseincare.
I definitely support giving emergency medical care to anyone who needs it.
But as for illegal aliens, they should be treated and then sent to their home countries for follow-up care.
This would not be a big, serious problem IF ONLY our federal government would reasonably enforce our laws (borders).
Most of this problem arises because of Obama’s open borders policy.
(An even greater problem is, I believe, all the illegal aliens flooding into USA from countries OTHER than Mexico, countries that are openly hostile to America ... “religion of peace” places, need we say more?....We will someday discover just how deep we are in this DooDoo....)
Why don’t we invoice the illegal’s home country? They are responsible for these costs.
I sort of sympathize with the doctor. When people come in, face to face, what is he supposed to do? Tell them to die? Sending them back to their home countries is probably a death sentence. But American taxpayers don’t have enough money to provide free medical care to everyone in Latin America.
How would you enforce the debt? I remember a story about a woman from Taiwan, which has “free” health care, who wound up in a Connecticut Hospital, costing them $2 million a year, and Taiwan would not pay, nor pay to transport her home. Eventually, the hospital paid for a med-flight home for her. At least they took her. Mexico probably wouldn’t even have let her off the plane.
Well what do you do? Throw these people away? Let them die? And when does that stop?” Carrison said.
Well when the hospital goes belly up AMERICANS will die. Who are you loyal to Dr. Carrison?
Do not forget illegals also tie up chairs that Americans want be able to have due from overwhelming number of illegals there for free care
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