Analysis: Migrants Costing U.S. Taxpayers Billions for Free, Uninsured Health Care; Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions in Unpaid Bills; The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration

By admin On Mar 25, 2024

Analysis: Migrants Costing U.S. Taxpayers Billions for Free, Uninsured Health Care:

Illegal immigrants are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars just to cover their medical care, with politicians and healthcare workers from around the U.S. sounding the alarm on the overwhelming debt.

As millions of migrants pour through the U.S.-Mexico border, they’re taking up space in emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs), and racking up exorbitant amounts of debt while being uninsured and taking advantage of Medicaid.

A November 2023 report from the House Committee on Homeland Security revealed that out of an estimated $451 billion in yearly costs connected to the Biden administration’s immigration crisis, a significant chunk is going to healthcare for illegal aliens.

While the vast majority of illegals don’t have insurance, they’re free to rack up debt with long hospital stays. Many are also able to get government welfare, including Medicaid. All an illegal migrant would have to do is cross the southern border into California to receive taxpayer-funded insurance.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ushered in the first state program to offer free subsidized healthcare to illegal migrants under the Medi-Cal system in the beginning of 2024, Breitbart News reported.

An employee of a Southern California hospital who recently spoke with the Epoch Times on conditions of public anonymity said, “The entire health care system is just being bombarded” by the stream of migrants.

“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she added.

Just in the first five months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 902,000 migrants who illegally crossed into the U.S. between ports of entry, Breitbart News reported. —>READ MORE HERE

Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals With Billions in Unpaid Bills:

Hospital systems struggle as uninsured illegal immigrants use them as their free health care destination

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are flooding into U.S. hospitals for treatment and leaving billions in uncompensated health care costs in their wake.

The House Committee on Homeland Security recently released a report illustrating that from the estimated $451 billion in annual costs stemming from the U.S. border crisis, a significant portion is going to health care for illegal immigrants.

With the majority of the illegal immigrant population lacking any kind of medical insurance, hospitals and government welfare programs such as Medicaid are feeling the weight of these unanticipated costs.

Apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the U.S. border have increased by 48 percent since the record in fiscal 2021 and nearly tripled since fiscal 2019, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Last year set new record for illegal border crossings, surpassing 3.2 million apprehensions.

And with that sea of humanity comes the need for health care and, in most cases, the inability to pay for it.

In January, CEO of Denver Health Donna Lynne told reporters that 8,000 illegal immigrants made roughly 20,000 visits to the city’s health system in 2023.

The total bill for uncompensated care costs last year to the system was $140 million, according to Dane Roper, public information officer for Denver Health. More than $10 million of it was attributed to “care for new immigrants,” he told The Epoch Times.

Though the amount of debt assigned to illegal immigrants is a fraction of the total, uncompensated care costs in the Denver Health system have risen dramatically over the past few years.

The total uncompensated costs in 2020 were $60 million, Mr. Roper said. In 2022, the number doubled, hitting $120 million.

He also said their city hospitals are treating issues such as respiratory illnesses, gastro-intestinal illnesses, dental disease, asthma, and diabetes.

“The perspective we’ve been trying to emphasize all along is that providing health care services for an influx of new immigrants who are unable to pay for their care is adding additional strain to an already significant uncompensated care burden,” Mr. Roper said.