Illegal immigrants and US Healthcare

Barack Obama was well into his speech on health care reform to Congress. "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally", he said. The next two words uttered were by Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina – two words that propelled the Republican to heights of notoriety he probably never imagined. “You lie” he screamed, causing the President of the United States to pause momentarily while an aghast Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, looked around in disbelief.

Within an hour, Wikipedia had disabled edit options for his entry, citing vandalism. “Joe Wilson” became the most searched item on Google, and the most disparaged man on Twitter and Facebook. Users listed his website and his phone number, encouraging other users to attack him. His site crashed, and the “You Lie!” videos collectively received over a million hits on YouTube. Exemplifying the animosity was this site, generating a fresh hate-inducing ‘fact’ about the man for every click. Despite his apologies to Barack Obama, the anger refused to die down.
Although this incident doesn’t deserve to be dwelt on too much, it shows how thorny the issue of illegal immigrants – within the health care debate – has become in the United States. A survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2005 revealed that there were as many as 12 million illegal immigrants in the country at the time. The figure is estimated to be about 11 million today.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of the United States requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment irrespective of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. This act has come in for severe criticism, not least because it shifts the burden of healthcare for illegal immigrants onto taxpaying citizens. Healthcare is looked at as a privilege only a taxpayer is entitled to. Moreover, the cost of emergency care necessitated b y this act is not directly met by the federal government. This has left hospitals – especially those in states along the US-Mexico border (57% of America’s illegal immigrants come from Mexico) – overburdened and strapped for cash. Say No To Illegal Immigration, a website, reports the effect of illegal immigration on border states. Numerous clinics and trauma centres close down every year, unable to stay in business. San Diego County spends nearly $ 250 million a year that is unreimbursed. Every border county in New Mexico and Arizona has declared a state of emergency, asking the federal government for help.
California, home to more illegal immigrants than any state, is the worst hit, spending around $ 1.4 billion every year, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
USA Today reports that since 2000, counties along the Mexican border have been losing more than $800 million every year in health care services for which they were not paid; and about 25% of that went to care for illegal immigrants according to a report by the United States/Mexico Border Counties Coalition.

Besides, around 60% of America’s illegal immigrants are uninsured. This means that the cost of medical care for all of them is passed on to taxpayers.

The issue of anchor babies – babies born to illegal immigrants – is one that conservatives find deeply disturbing. FAIR estimates that there are nearly 300,000 children born to illegal immigrants every year. States spend approximately $ 5000 per baby in pre and post-natal care. Moreover, these babies become US citizens, automatically qualifying for all healthcare privileges.

Apart from all this, illegal immigrants pose a serious health risk to the rest of the population by carrying contagious diseases. Unlike people legally admitted into the country, they do not undergo medical screening. FAIR reports that the number of cases of tuberculosis and dysentery in counties along the Mexican border is several times the national average.

Another school of thought, however, suggests that illegal immigrants are not as big a drain on America’s resources as people imagine. According to a survey conducted by the University of California's School of Public Health, immigrants visited emergency rooms only as a last resort. Most of them did not have a regular doctor or visit clinics regularly, for fear of being deported. The survey goes on to say that they have more negative experiences with healthcare than other Americans.

In the past month, the US administration has been at pains to emphasize that President Barack Obama’s healthcare policy does not include illegal immigrants. However, Republicans still remain sceptical – Joe Wilson’s outburst being a case in point. They claim that there is no way of physically verifying the citizenship of applicants. So no matter how the bill is worded – Republicans maintain – illegal immigrants will continue to enjoy healthcare benefits. The administration, in turn, has announced that it will make verification compulsory every step of the way.
The issue, though, is unlikely to go away in the near future.