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Home > Archive > Nursing > December 2005 > Immigrant MD: 'Illegal aliens are killing USA's health care system'
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Immigrant MD: 'Illegal aliens are killing USA's health care system'
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| WakeUp2005@adelphia.net 2005-12-27, 1:02 am |
| Illegal immigrants jam our emergency rooms
By Pius Kamau
Denver Post Columnist
After a surgical misadventure in Mexico, my patient [a Mexican illegal
alien] came north across the border and found his way to the emergency
room. While removing an infected hernia mesh, Mexican doctors had
perforated his intestine.
[He HAD to come -- illegally to boot -- to a *USA* hospital for such
treatment? Because *one* doctor in *one* Mexican hospital f*cked-up?
There were NO other hospitals in Mexico? LOL -- WakeUp]
Here in the United States, he received the care he needed: surgery and
three weeks of the best attention that medicine and technology can
offer.
[What's the average cost of a day occupying a bed -- not inclduing
surgical procedures, the $20 aspirins or the $45 Band-Aids -- in a
U.S. hospital by now? $2K? $3K? Anyone know the latest figure? --
WakeUp]
Sadly, he's only one of a river of illegal immigrants overwhelming the
nation's ERs. The law requires we treat every emergency patient.
[The acronym for this insane law is EMTALA; see the eye-opening expose
"Illegal aliens & EMTALA" by Dr. Madeleine Cosman at
http://www.rense.com/general63/emta.htm and many other websites. --
WakeUp]
My medical colleagues - voiceless, politically neutral and unsung
heroes - toil incessantly for America's uninsured and the
undocumented.
In contrast, there are those who give nothing of themselves, who
neither feed, bind wounds nor raise funds for the undocumented.
They're talkers, journalists and political activists who use a lot of
ink and energy excoriating anyone who as much as questions illegal
immigration.
Today, health care is a leaky boat burdened by millions of uninsured
Americans; illegal aliens are helping to sink it. Few know of the
economic impact the undocumented have on our society and our health
care system.
We pick up the tab in many ways for the undocumented - from burying
their dead, to delivery of their babies, to emergency medical and
surgical care. There are 300,000 babies born to undocumented mothers
annually at a cost of $5,000 a baby.
In Colorado, Medicaid pays for 6,000 births for a total of $30 million
annually. In 2002, California paid $79 million for births, Texas $74
million, Arizona $31 million and New Mexico $6 million.
Small hospitals can be overwhelmed. Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee,
Ariz., spent $200,000 out of its $300,000 operating budget on illegal
immigrants.
Some hospitals and emergency rooms have closed because they have been
overrun by the uninsured and the undocumented.
As an immigrant myself, I'm sensitive to the plight of those crossing
our borders, part of a giant global south-to-north migratory path -
poverty to riches. They see America as a lifesaver, the shining
mansion on the hill.
But as much as I sympathize with them, I must ask: How many more can
we treat in our emergency rooms? When will the taxpayer say,
"Enough!"? And when, if ever, should we expect the Mexican government
to bear some responsibility for its citizens?
The issue of illegal immigration is often framed into left-right
issue. It's neither. It's a grave American problem - more serious than
Saddam Hussein's Iraq before the war and one that we all need to
engage in rationally and dispassionately. It's also a matter of
justice: On average, it takes as many as a dozen years for an African
and 25 years for a Filipino professional to legally immigrate to the
United States. After a hop, skip and jump, illegal immigrants can
maneuver around the system in ways no other group is permitted.
My patient, illiterate and poor, deserved more from his surgeon, his
folks and government back home. He came to the U.S. because Mexican
medicine discriminates against the poor. And as awful as our system
is, it has its own checks and balances; it's responsive to patients
and to regulatory agencies and has community standards of care. This
is something that can only come from a functioning democracy.
I believe many poor people wouldn't come to the U.S. if they could
live a better life in Mexico and South America. Mexico must become a
partner with the U.S. in immigration matters, rather than being a
gleeful spectator.
Perhaps in this season of giving and gratitude, we should thank the
doctor silently taking care of the undocumented alien for free.
Let's also acknowledge that many activists and critics have only empty
words to offer. I hereby challenge them to raise funds to cover
illegals' health care. In the meantime, let's all try to find one
solution to this terrible problem: confronting Mexican authorities who
must do more for their citizens.
Pius Kamau of Aurora is a thoracic and general surgeon. He was born
and raised in Kenya and immigrated to the U.S. in 1971. His column
appears on alternate Thursdays.
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3331523
************************************************************************
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"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation . . . betrays [one nation] into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter . . .
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.
"Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded."
-- President George Washington
Farewell Address
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| Starlight 2005-12-27, 1:02 am |
| On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 18:58:53 -0800, WakeUp2005@adelphia.net posted:
>Illegal immigrants jam our emergency rooms
>
The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are doing their
own fair share of killing the USA's health care system. Maybe when
we police our own we can begin to police others.
| |
| Robert Morien 2005-12-27, 1:02 am |
| In article <4eb1r1l1b7bb2kfnt4i7bkgjtqebors65t@4ax.com>,
WakeUp2005@adelphia.net wrote:
> Illegal immigrants jam our emergency rooms
>
> We pick up the tab in many ways for the undocumented - from burying
> their dead, to delivery of their babies, to emergency medical and
> surgical care. There are 300,000 babies born to undocumented mothers
> annually at a cost of $5,000 a baby.
I'd just love to see the cite for that
>
> In Colorado, Medicaid pays for 6,000 births for a total of $30 million
> annually. In 2002, California paid $79 million for births, Texas $74
> million, Arizona $31 million and New Mexico $6 million.
And yet according to your previous posts there is some mysterious
hospital that all by itself had 10,000 such births...yet another cite
you haven't provided
>
> Small hospitals can be overwhelmed. Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee,
> Ariz., spent $200,000 out of its $300,000 operating budget on illegal
> immigrants.
$300,000 operating budget...that's not a hospital, that's a medical
closet
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| Raymond 2005-12-27, 10:56 am |
| >I'd just love to see the cite for that
Aqu=ED est=E1n los sitios que usted solicit=F3. Si?
Economic costs of mass immigration (legal and illegal immigration ....
It's estimated there may be over 300000 anchor babies born each year in
the US ... for about 6000 illegal immigrant mothers - average of $5000
per baby. ...
http://www.cairco.org/econ/econ.html
Coyote Gulch
There are 300000 babies born to undocumented mothers annually at a cost
of $5000 a baby. In Colorado, Medicaid pays for 6000 births for a total
of $30 ...
http://radio.weblogs.com/0101170/2005/12/22.html
"It Seems To Me" ... by Doctor
"Anchor babies," the author writes, "born to illegal aliens instantly
qualify ... for public welfare aid: Between 300000 and 350000 anchor
babies annually ...
http://itseemstome.blogstream.com/v1/p18.html
| |
| Robert Morien 2005-12-27, 10:56 am |
| In article <1135667513.374922.15540@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"Raymond" <Bluerhymer@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Aqu?st?los sitios que usted solicit?i?
>
> Economic costs of mass immigration (legal and illegal immigration ....
> It's estimated there may be over 300000 anchor babies born each year in
> the US ... for about 6000 illegal immigrant mothers - average of $5000
> per baby. ...
> http://www.cairco.org/econ/econ.html
>
> Coyote Gulch
> There are 300000 babies born to undocumented mothers annually at a cost
> of $5000 a baby. In Colorado, Medicaid pays for 6000 births for a total
> of $30 ...
> http://radio.weblogs.com/0101170/2005/12/22.html
>
> "It Seems To Me" ... by Doctor
> "Anchor babies," the author writes, "born to illegal aliens instantly
> qualify ... for public welfare aid: Between 300000 and 350000 anchor
> babies annually ...
> http://itseemstome.blogstream.com/v1/p18.html
ah, I wanted to see the OP provide the cite...still looking for that
hosital that has over 10000 babies born there in a year
| |
| Kurt Ullman 2005-12-27, 10:56 am |
| In article <2ec1r1lkqagevtrq10pbdmevudpn18tpg5@4ax.com>, Starlight
<homehealth_rnDELETE@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 18:58:53 -0800, WakeUp2005@adelphia.net posted:
>
>
>The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are doing their
>own fair share of killing the USA's health care system. Maybe when
>we police our own we can begin to police others.
I have never have understood the great focus on the evil pharm
companies. They have NEVER been responsible for more than 10% of all
healthcare costs in the US. You could nuke the entire lot tomorrow
and see relatively little change in anything healthcare..
Actually that is wrong. You would see a great change because it
would be much cheaper in the long run since all those people who
drugs have kept going would now croak inexpensively instead of
living expensively. Go for it..
--
"Distracting a politician from governing is like distracting a bear from eating your baby."
--PJ O'Rourke
| |
| O'Hush 2005-12-27, 10:57 am |
| WakeUp2005@adelphia.net wrote:
> Illegal immigrants jam our emergency rooms
(snip tirade about negative economic impact of illegal immigration)
Wage-earning illegals have taxes automatically deducted like everybody
else, including social security and federal and state taxes, and they
don't file, so they don't get refunds. They won't qualify to receive
the social security benefits they earn because they're using bogus
social security numbers, so the contributions of illegals to the social
security trust fund is keeping it solvent as we speak. They don't get
the child tax credit no matter how many children they support. They
don't get education tax credits, and they don't get the Earned Income
Tax Credit no matter how low their income.
If you don't like illegal immigration, vote the Republicans out of
office. They love immigration because it keeps wages low so their rich
buddies in industry can get richer. Read all about it: This is from
that left-leaning liberal rag Businessweek. Damn pinko commies.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazin...43001_mz001.htm
| |
| Starlight 2005-12-27, 10:57 am |
| On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:04:36 GMT, kurtullman@yahoo.com (Kurt Ullman)
posted:
> I have never have understood the great focus on the evil pharm
>companies. They have NEVER been responsible for more than 10% of all
>healthcare costs in the US.
You do realize how much 10% of healtcare costs is, I'm sure.
Prescription drug costs increased at more than three times the rate of
inflation from January 2003 to January 2004.
According to a June 2004 report released by Public Citizen, the drug
industry hired 824 individual lobbyists in 2003-an all-time high. The
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is the
industry's leading trade association, representing more than 40
brand-name drug companies. PhRMA hired 136 lobbyists in 2003—24 more
than the previous year—and spent more than $16 million on direct
lobbying before Congress, a 12.5 percent increase from the year
before. According to confidential budget documents, PhRMA does not
confine its financial influence to federal decision-makers. For the
fiscal year that began on July 1, 2003, PhRMA had budgeted $48.7
million for advocacy at the state level.
When we're paying $10 for a Tylenol in the hospital, paying at least
twice as much for drugs as people in other countries pay for the same
drugs, when pharmaceutical companies spend more than twice as much on
marketing and administrative costs than on research and development,
when uninsured patients (and I'm not referring to illegals) have to
pay twice as much for their meds as insured patients, there's a
problem.
I don't mean to imply that drug companies are the root of all evil,
but they certainly do contribute to the massive problems in our health
care system.
Becky
| |
| Starlight 2005-12-27, 10:57 am |
| On 27 Dec 2005 07:32:26 -0800, "O'Hush" <ohush@unc.edu> posted:
>
>If you don't like illegal immigration, vote the Republicans out of
>office. They love immigration because it keeps wages low so their rich
>buddies in industry can get richer. Read all about it: This is from
>that left-leaning liberal rag Businessweek. Damn pinko commies.
>
>http://www.businessweek.com/magazin...43001_mz001.htm
Thank you for that article. Very interesting.
| |
|
|
O'Hush wrote:
> WakeUp2005@adelphia.net wrote:
>
>
>
>
> (snip tirade about negative economic impact of illegal immigration)
>
> Wage-earning illegals have taxes automatically deducted like everybody
> else, including social security and federal and state taxes, and they
> don't file, so they don't get refunds.
The way it's been explained to me by several other nurses at work who
have husbands and/or family in farming here in South Carolina is that
(A) the farms could not afford to run if they had to pay full wages to
legal workers, and (B) the illegal workers get paid cash, effective
"under the table," as it is called, without being taxed.
So, how do illegals have taxes automatically deducted, thereby
contributing to the social security system, etc.?
I don't know about these things, personally, only what I've been told,
but it's not very clear.
| |
| Raymond 2005-12-28, 10:57 am |
| Routers: Hot Off The Wires
Mexico City, Dec.27, 2005
Nogales, Arizona
The local shefiff announced that at 2:00 am on Monday December 26,
seventeen American citizens from Tulsa, Oklahoma were arrested as they
were
attempting to "sneak" across the border to Nogales, Mexico to fulfill a
contract agreement with a Mexican "padrone" to work in a tractor
factory making
tractors to be imported into de-novo corporate America.
The American immigrants complained that they should be able to follow
their
jobs even though they would earn two-hundred percent less than they
made in
America, and since their unemployment compensation had run out and
their health insurance and life insurance had been lost forever.
"At least. we'uns from the United States will be independent. We will
be able
to say that we are true Rebublican Bush supporters and we do not depend
on
Democratic handouts. We can make it on on owns. and this way , we can
be sendin some pecos home to the folks that are also determined to
avoid that awful Democratic socialism stuff that we bin warned about by
our beloved Republican leaders, Prime Minister Bush, and his father,
and his real conservatie
thoughtful boss, Mr. Cheney.
And God bless President Fox. He be sain, "We need all the hep we can
be
gettin. Our peoples are all leavin us for free health care and other
stuff in Old Mexico.
A new statue on the Mexican side of the border in Nogales, Mexico
reads:
My Spanish ain't so good ( and bein from Oklahoma, I ain't too sure of
my
Enlish) but I think the words inscribed say:
"Give me your tired, your unemployed, your jingos.
Your hudddled masses yearning for jobs.
The wretched refuse from your teeming unemployment offices.
Send these, the homeless., corporation - tost to me.
I lift my borders to you "gringos" who have lost it all and see a
future in
Mexico."
P=2ES. I don't trust your unlawfully elected president, so take your
chances
on illegally crossing the border. He may have you shot,.just as our
peons have
been done away with when we were worse off than you gringos were, and
our
people were attempting to cross your border illegally.
Your pal, Vincente
The U.S. Border Patrol is next to useless. In fact, I can't recall a
time when it was very useful, but I do recall when my parents spent
eight months in Yuma in the late 1940's and we just heard the term
"wetback" now and then. Generally, if one was caught they were sent
home. Deported. Maybe it ended there, maybe they tried again. But with
all the freebies that were introduced during the presidency of Lyndon
B=2E Johnson (of Viet Nam notoriety) to make this a Great Society, we
began getting illegals by bunches and carloads.
SEE: Sobre cu=E1l la cogida es =E9sta?
http://www.usbc.org/profiles/profil...shipofstate.htm
| |
| O'Hush 2005-12-28, 10:57 am |
|
RDM wrote:
> O'Hush wrote:
>
> The way it's been explained to me by several other nurses at work who
> have husbands and/or family in farming here in South Carolina is that
> (A) the farms could not afford to run if they had to pay full wages to
> legal workers, and (B) the illegal workers get paid cash, effective
> "under the table," as it is called, without being taxed.
You're talking about migrant farm workers. They're not strictly
speaking "wage-earners." They're generally paid by some measure of
production like per bushel or whatever. You obviously know more about
migrant farm workers than I do.
> So, how do illegals have taxes automatically deducted, thereby
> contributing to the social security system, etc.?
Here in central NC there is a very large population of illegal Latino
immigrants. They use bogus social security numbers and fake green
cards. Often their employers are complicit. (In that they knowingly
hire illegals because they can pay them less and they don't complain
about dangerous or unpleasant working conditions, or other employment
violations like not allowing for work breaks.) Wal-Mart got busted for
hiring illegals (though I think not here -- Pennsylvania? Not sure).
Here's a link:
http://immigration.about.com/b/a/162521.htm
> I don't know about these things, personally, only what I've been told,
> but it's not very clear.
| |
| Bob Ward 2005-12-29, 1:04 am |
| On 28 Dec 2005 04:01:21 -0800, "Raymond" <Bluerhymer@aol.com> wrote:
>
>My Spanish ain't so good ( and bein from Oklahoma, I ain't too sure of
>my
>Enlish)
Your math skills ain't too swift either - "earning 200% less" is not a
mathematical concept.
Troll on, McDuff.
| |
| Kurt Ullman 2005-12-29, 10:59 am |
| In article <79q2r191lqk777qnodsprqcbmlpp4qi73a@4ax.com>, Starlight
<homehealth_rnDELETE@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 12:04:36 GMT, kurtullman@yahoo.com (Kurt Ullman)
>posted:
>
>
>
>You do realize how much 10% of healtcare costs is, I'm sure.
Yep. You also realize that how little anything you are likely to be able to
do in that area is actually impact on the overall problem? You cut their
income in half and you don't even cut a % out of HC as a % of GDP. You cut a
fair number of bucks, but still only a small part of the overall costs. My
only point is that the Pharm companies get MUCH more attention than they
deserve.
>Prescription drug costs increased at more than three times the rate of
>inflation from January 2003 to January 2004.
So? The realquestion is how much they increased as part of MEDICAL
inflation. MI has been running above the "regular" rate of inflation for
years. I don;t have the figures handy, but if Pharm inflation was running much
higher than medical inflation, Pharm's share of the pie would have been
growing and it hasn't.
>According to a June 2004 report released by Public Citizen, the drug
>industry hired 824 individual lobbyists in 2003-an all-time high. The
>Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is the
>industry's leading trade association, representing more than 40
>brand-name drug companies. PhRMA hired 136 lobbyists in 2003—24 more
>than the previous year—and spent more than $16 million on direct
>lobbying before Congress, a 12.5 percent increase from the year
>before. According to confidential budget documents, PhRMA does not
>confine its financial influence to federal decision-makers. For the
>fiscal year that began on July 1, 2003, PhRMA had budgeted $48.7
>million for advocacy at the state level.
Gee a lobbying organization getting upset about another lobbying
organization. This is interesting in this discussion how?
>
>When we're paying $10 for a Tylenol in the hospital, paying at least
>twice as much for drugs as people in other countries pay for the same
>drugs, when pharmaceutical companies spend more than twice as much on
>marketing and administrative costs than on research and development,
>when uninsured patients (and I'm not referring to illegals) have to
>pay twice as much for their meds as insured patients, there's a
>problem.
But tylenol is generic. What the hospitals charge (and we all know what they
actually get are a few orders of magnitude below what they actually get) is
beside the point in this discussion. Studies have shown over and over that
when things like currency differences (Canadian drug prices shown on the
Internet ar priced in CDN$ and comparison in the US is US$ so you already lose
around 25% of the difference there) and relative wealth of the country, most
of the disparities disappear. Personally I am more upset that we appear to be
subsidizing Canadian and European patients.
Also, those marketing and administrative costs are largely bogus since
they are usually from the annual reports. The annual reports don't break out
by division and most of the Pharm companies have OTC divisions that require
little research and more marketing. Also, they are (rather conveniently)
looking at two completely different operations (marketing and administration)
and only one. You pull these things out and look at three different
operations, then you have much less to get upset about.
>I don't mean to imply that drug companies are the root of all evil,
>but they certainly do contribute to the massive problems in our health
>care system.
>Becky
But nowhere near the amount of interest they get.
| |
| Geoff Miller 2005-12-29, 10:59 am |
|
Bob Ward <bobward@email.com> writes:
> Your math skills ain't too swift either - "earning 200% less" is not a
> mathematical concept.
That sort of usage really grates on me. Something isn't "ten times
less" than something else; it's "one-tenth as much."
Another variation is when people say that something decreases by a
"factor" of some number. If it decreases, then it's by a *quotient.*
The word "factor" implies multiplication and hence, an increase.
Geoff
--
"Is it true that Dorothy Parker named her pet parakeet Onan because
he kept spilling his seed upon the ground?" -- David Mikkelson
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