Mexican medics take sick to U.S.

Washington Times ^ | December 12, 2002 | Jerry Seper

[sarcasm]

Mexican ambulance drivers are transporting hospital patients unable to pay for medical care or emergency-room services in their country to facilities in the United States, where their treatment is mandated by federal law, authorities said yesterday.

The border crossings have been reported from Brownsville, Texas, to Douglas, Ariz., and involve Mexican ambulance companies whose drivers have been instructed by hospital officials in Mexico to take ailing and uninsured patients to the United States, the authorities said.

[dennisw]

If the patients are suffering from a disease, wouldn't illegally importing them into our country be a form of bioterrorism?

Their disease is being born into a 3rd world craphole that unfortunately for us is right on our border. Shackled to an ungrateful corpse

[dennisw]

Nothing compared to the number of displaced farmers who will be travelling north over the next year.

Add this to recession, war on Iraq, layoffs, trade deficits, lower dollar and we have a perfect storm on the horizon.

[sarcasm]

You forgot THIS one.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

This report will wake a bunch of people up. With an attitude like this, the WT will make a huge difference on this issue.

Everyone cares. But the rats see a new crop of uninformed voters, and the GOP thinks it can inform this new batch of uninformed voters. In the meantime, we get screwed. And we do care.

[texastoo]

Since it is so late tonight, I thought I would one-up the Washington Times with a very true story.

Last winter a patient crossed the border from Mexico in a Mexican ambulance with a "border crossing card". These border cards are shopping cards. He was a ventilator patient and they ambu-bagged him all the way. Since it was winter, the hospital was full of patients. Therefore, we had to discharge an American to make room for the illegal.

The irony of all this free medicine, is that the illegals can sue the doctors, hospitals and nurses. AND they are doing just that. Free medical care is a lottery ticket for illegals.

[tdadams]

How can this situation be allowed to continue? Can anyone reasonably justify allowing Mexicans to cross a border into a country other than their own for the sole purpose of leaching medical care with no intention of paying for it?

Would any other country feel any obligation to treat an influx of people from a neighboring country knowing their only intention is to mooch off of that nation's taxpayers?

Does our government feel such a dire need to maintain good relations with Mexico that it's willing to march straight into it's own suicide?

Grrr...waiting for Atlas to shrug!

[ECM]

So you're saying the outlook is rather bleak?

;)

[grania]

hmmmm: "Is it a form of bioterrorism"? Gosh, you are clever. That kind of puts an end to the ridiculous arguments about why they can't be stopped.

Just who is letting these ambulances across the border anyway? Wouldn't that be treason?

[mhking]

Boortz had the right idea on his show this morning: when the Mexican ambulances come to dump their Mexican patients (now Mexican illegals) at the American hospitals, grab the drivers and ambulances.

Confiscate the ambulances (perhaps give 'em to a hospital or fire department who is in need of an extra vehicle or three), and charge the driver with transporting illegals over the border. Once ol' Vinnie Fox gets tired of having to pony up to keep replacing ambulances, he'll put the kybosh on that practice real quick...

[Chemist_Geek]

So, you guys really want to hear the following..?

"We're sorry, but unless you can provide three forms of ID, proving your American citizenship, we won't provide any treatment for your respiratory distress. Sorry, just sit there and suffocate. Try not to make a mess. Thank you!"

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

If this continues unabated, it will bankrupt the U.S. healthcare system and drive health insurance costs completely out of sight. It has simply got to stop. And, we've got to stop treating illegal aliens who cannot pay who are already here. I know it seems cruel, but it will eventually kill our children.

In Mexico, as I have posted before, if you don't pay...you don't get care. It's that simple.

[tdadams]

I'd settle for two forms of ID.

[texastoo]

Let me assure you that Mexican ambulances ARE transporting patients from Mexico to American ER's. Their ambulances aren't exactly like ours though. The ambulances that I have seen are more like pick-up trucks with a wide camper on back. Much smaller than ours. They also have Mexican license plates and are marked as an ambulance.

Many hispanics live in Mexico that are on medicare and medicaid. These people are legal. They also use these same ambulances. My guess is that the Mexican ambulance service gets paid by medicare and medicaid.

Canada pays for their citizens through their insurance. If a Canadian is stable enough, Canada sends an airplane to pick them up.

To me, that is the answer. We should demand that each country pay the health care cost of their citizens.

[glock rocks]

holy crap.