Free Republic

Gainesville, Florida's first community hospital has been struggling since it was acquired by the Shands Healthcare system in northern Florida twelve years ago. But now the plug is being pulled from the 80-year-old, money-losing Shands AGH because of the recession. Its eight-hospital not-for-profit parent company will close the 220-bed hospital next fall. Patients and staff will be moved to a nearby newer, larger teaching hospital as part of an effort to conserve $65 million over three years throughout the healthcare system. Like many U.S. hospitals, Shands is being hit by higher borrowing costs, tight credit, investment losses and a spike...

For the first time since he arrived in the United States 27 years ago, Isidro Alvarado, a day laborer in Vista, says he's thinking about going home to Mexico. Alvarado said he is finding it increasingly hard to get work here. He's not alone. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization, reported that Latino immigrants ---- legal and illegal ---- have been hit hard by the nation's struggling economy, and some are returning home. That's playing out locally. Officials with two North County day labor centers run by nonprofit agencies said they have seen a steady...

A report prepared by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds that illegal immigration costs Colorado about $1.1 billion a year. The report, "The Costs of illegal Immigration to Coloradans," looks at just three essential state services and programs: K-12 education, public health care, and incarceration from criminal illegal aliens. While the state spends more than $1 billion on services for illegal aliens, Colorado is faced with a $101 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. EDUCATION K-12: Education for the estimated 84,000 children of illegal aliens attending public schools costs taxpayers $925 million and an additional $68...

The state of Texas and local hospital districts spent an estimated $677 million to provide health care to illegal immigrants in a year, a new study says. The survey, issued by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said that most of the money — $597 million — was spent by local hospital districts for the immigrants' care during the state's fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, 2007. Lawmakers from both parties said they were not surprised by the millions spent and expressed hope that the report, required by the 2007 Legislature, will help prompt Congress to pass comprehensive...

The immigration debate isn't just on Capitol Hill; documentation woes are hitting home-and hospitals-as well. Recently, a North Carolina judge ordered the release of medical records for an investigation involving an undocumented immigrant. The woman allegedly used a deceased person's social security number to obtain medical care, a crime more commonly known as medical identity theft. But in addition to serving as evidence for criminal charges, the medical record also raises a red flag for deportation because the woman has no documented permission to reside in the country. While lawmakers have long been grappling over immigration issues, this case draws...

Roughly 2,000 times over the past 17 years, Marguerita Toribio, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, has climbed into a cushioned recliner for the three-hour dialysis treatment that keeps her alive. She has never seen a bill. U.S. taxpayers have covered the entire cost of her treatment in California: more than $500,000 and rising, not including a kidney transplant in 1993. The kidney failed when Toribio briefly moved to North Carolina, which refused to pay for her anti-rejection drugs. She needed to go back on dialysis three days a week to clear toxins from her blood, but North Carolina didn't cover...

Two hours were enough for José Luis Sánchez and his family to pack their most valuable belongings in two vans – items accumulated in 10 years of living in the Dallas area. With his wife, children and their suitcases in place, Mr. Sánchez closed the door of his Mesquite apartment for the last time, sat at the wheel of one of the vehicles – his brother drove the other – and hit the road back to his homeland. So ended his decade-long adventure as an illegal Mexican immigrant in the United States. According to Mexican consulate officials in Dallas, some...

If you cross the US-Mexican border at the town of Calexico you might run into a photographer named Daniel Santillan. But he's not likely to be shooting pictures of tourists. He only has eyes for Mexican schoolchildren who want an American education. Mr. Santillan is a residency enforcer, assigned by local education officials to make sure students live in the US, not Mexico. When he's not tracking students on weekday mornings at the border crossing, he visits local homes to make sure children live where their parents say they do. Santillan isn't thrilled about busting youngsters for living south of...

There is no federal law banning states from admitting illegal immigrants to colleges and universities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The statement contradicts a letter issued this week by the North Carolina Attorney General, who advised the State Community College System that federal law prohibits the admission of illegal immigrants to public colleges and universities. "The Department of Homeland Security does not require any school to determine a student's status," the department said.

It is this reporter’s opinion that, after covering the invasion by illegal aliens over the past 40 years, it is difficult to find a story such as that related by Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times concerning illegal alien Ana Puente. “Ana was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the U.S. to seek medical care,” said Gorman. The child underwent two liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center as a small child in 1989, and a third in 1998 — all totally paid for by the state of California. Now it is reported...

ATLANTA (AP) - For generations, Grady Memorial Hospital has treated the poorest of the poor, victims of stabbings and shootings, and motorists grievously injured in Atlanta's murderous rush-hour traffic. Now, Grady itself is in grave condition. Staggering under a deficit projected at $55 million, the city's only public hospital could close at the end of the year, leaving Atlanta without a major trauma center and foisting thousands of poor people onto emergency rooms at other hospitals for their routine medical care. "I don't have the words to describe the onslaught of health care needs that will hit the region if...