Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: U.S. border hospitals say illegal immigrants are costing them millions

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Ambulances regularly race across the bridges of the Rio
Grande, bringing some of Mexico's sickest to the nearest U.S. emergency
room.
AP - 12/11/2002
Obligated by federal law, the hospitals provide the care and worry later
about whether the billing addresses patients give them are accurate. Often
the addresses are false - and the hospitals get stuck with the bill.
Immigrant patients have inflated medical expenses for insurance companies,
Medicaid and paying customers, officials say, and are overwhelming already
busy hospitals in one of nation's fastest-growing regions.
One recent study by the Mexico-U.S. Border Counties Coalition, an American
lobbying group, found U.S. border hospitals provided at least 200 million
dollars a year in uncompensated emergency care to illegal immigrants, 74
million dollars of that in Texas.
"Shh, don't tell Iowa farmers that part of their taxes are paying for trauma
that occurs south of the border," Dr. Lorenzo Pelly, a south Texas doctor,
told state lawmakers at a recent hearing.
Republican state Sen. Chris Harris said he was shocked by what he called the
"dumping" of Mexicans on U.S. hospitals. Policymakers are just beginning to
assess the size of the problem. Brownsville Medical Center estimates average
losses at least 500,000 dollars per month. At Thomason Hospital in El Paso,
officials said their first attempt to estimate the cost found 1 million
dollars over just three months.
Thomason Hospital responded by retaining a Mexican lawyer and requiring
patients to sign "pagares," or promissory notes, that carry weight under
Mexican law. It also signed on with a firm that specializes in collecting
past due accounts in Mexico.
Even without the influx from Mexico, U.S. border hospitals are straining to
meet the region's growing medical needs. Some have resorted to importing
doctors and offering nurses tuition grants and signing bonuses.
But the load really jumped as Mexicans looking for work stream to factories
along the border. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has
stimulated business on both sides of the border, but hospitals have not kept
up.
NAFTA "lacks the social economic infrastructure and capacity" to address the
growth, said Eva Moya of the Mexico Border Health Commission, made up of
Mexican and U.S. officials. For the sick or injured on the Mexican side of
the border, the choice in a life-or-death situation can be a three-hour
journey inland to Monterrey or a minutes-long trip to Brownsville, Laredo or
El Paso.
The issue drew attention in September, when four-year-old Larissa Guajardo,
a U.S. citizen, died of heart problems after crossing the Hidalgo-Reynosa
international bridge on the way to a hospital. Family members blamed the
delay on immigration officials, who would not let the mother enter the
country. The mother lacked paperwork and had crossed the border illegally
before.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service said the inspection process took
only a few minutes and that inspectors did not know the girl's illness was
critical. Once the seriousness was discovered, the mother was allowed to
enter on humanitarian grounds, the INS said. The Sept. 11 attacks have also
complicated the situation along the border, with some authorities worrying
about what the ambulances might be holding.
"It is a security threat if they are going across the border unchallenged,
but at the same time, we don't want to interfere with an emergency
procedure," said Carl Rusnok of the INS in Dallas.
The B&M International Bridge, which links Brownsville with Matamoros, has
emergency crossings down to a science, said Joe Galvan, president of the
company that runs it. The company has its own security guards staffing both
sides of the crossing, and in medical emergencies a call goes out for the
U.S. side to clear a lane for fast passage.
Under a 1986 federal law, U.S. hospitals must treat anyone who seeks
emergency care, without regard to immigration status or ability to pay. The
government gives hospitals extra funding to help poorer regions absorb the
costs of unreimbursed care, but hospitals say it is not enough.
"This becomes a particular philosophical question that these doctors are
having," said Dominic Dominguez, an administrator at Brownsville Medical
Center. "Part of my signing to serve in this community is, I'll cover this
emergency room. But I didn't sign on to cover Mexico."
Questo in America, e da noi in Italia, quanto costano gli "extra" irregolari
alla SSN ?

irregolari alla SSN ?
Bella domanda.
-Stefano