[A Closer Look]: State at a loss in nursing health care complications
By Shauntel Lowe
April 3, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Costing California taxpayers an estimated $1.4 billion annually,
providing medical care for undocumented immigrants in California
has become a key issue in the debate over immigration reform.
California has more undocumented immigrants than any other
state, with an estimated undocumented population of 2.2 million in
2000, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Services.
Latinos make up an estimated 75 percent of this population.
Many undocumented immigrants have either no insurance or limited
insurance that does not provide comprehensive coverage.
Because of laws that say emergency medical treatment cannot be
denied to anyone, whether they have insurance and even if they are
undocumented, hospitals must accommodate the undocumented patients
who come for treatment.
Sarah Mercer, senior program manager for the Latino Issues
Forum, said many undocumented Latino workers have jobs in
agriculture, construction and service industries where employers
are less likely to offer insurance.
She said without insurance, or with insurance that doesn’t
provide adequate primary care, many Latinos do not get preventative
treatment; instead, they develop chronic conditions that are more
expensive to treat when they eventually come in for treatment,
often at emergency rooms or community health clinics.
Mercer said language barriers and a fear of deportation also
prevent many people from seeking treatment.
She said providing access to health care for the Latino
community, including undocumented immigrants and citizens, is an
issue that must be addressed.
“California is one of the most diverse states. It’s
the responsibility of everyone (to make sure everyone has access to
care),” she said.
But other groups say it is the immigration laws that need to be
addressed.
Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American
Immigration and Reform, said the laws regarding illegal immigration
need to be enforced in order to reduce illegal immigration and
reduce the resulting health care costs.
Mehlman said amnesty is not a viable solution.
“It’s only going to exacerbate the impact that
(illegal immigration) has on health care,” he said.
“We’ve already bankrupted (L.A.) County because of
this. People have paid with their lives because they couldn’t
get to an emergency room in time,” he said.
The overcrowding many L.A. County hospitals have had to deal
with due to the rising population and the need to accommodate more
people without insurance has caused many problems. Several
hospitals have been forced to shut down, due to budget concerns, or
divert incoming ambulances to other emergency rooms farther
away.
In the past four years, nine medical centers and emergency
departments have closed down, according to a March 2006 article in
the Los Angeles Times.
It is estimated that health care, education and incarceration
for undocumented immigrants cost California taxpayers over $10
billion annually. Because they are not citizens, undocumented
immigrants do not pay all of the taxes that citizens pay to fund
health care and other costs paid for by the state.
But it is estimated that undocumented immigrants contribute $1.6
billion annually to the economy through state and local taxes by
purchasing goods in the United States.
While that financial contribution does not match the costs
incurred, many said that undocumented immigrants do contribute
significantly to the economy and country in other ways.
“Whether or not there’s a dollar-to-dollar
breakeven, that’s not a feasible way to approach it,”
said Gerardo Gonzalez, director of the National Latino Research
Center at Cal State San Marcos.
“If you look at a student who gets educated (and) goes
through college, over the lifetime they contribute lots more to
society with income and ability to help themselves and
family,” he said.
Michael Rodriguez, an associate professor in the department of
family medicine at UCLA who does research about health care, said
undocumented workers also contribute by working for the low wages
which enable consumers to purchase fruit and other products for
lower prices.
