U.S. Government will pay hospitals for treatment provided to illegal aliens

May 9 2005

Health care providers in the U.S. will, as from this week, be able to charge the government for emergency care they provide to illegal aliens.

Final guidance was issued on May 9th by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has set up a system for reimbursement. $1 billion has been set aside over four years to fund the program which was created by Medicare legislation passed in 2003.

Don May, vice president of policy for the American Hospital Association says the additional money for many hospitals in border states will mean make or break for many hospitals in border states and will be the difference between running a profitable business or an unprofitable one.

Two-thirds of the money will be distributed to health care providers based on a state's percentage of undocumented aliens. The remaining third will go to providers in the six states with the largest number of arrests of undocumented aliens.

The states receiving the highest amounts in the current fiscal year are California, $70.8 million; Texas, $46 million; Arizona, $45 million; and New York, $12.25 million.

The payments will be made on a quarterly basis and will be adjusted proportionately if the bills exceed the state's allocation.

A group that advocates for stricter immigration policies said the government's reimbursement of hospitals was the right thing to do.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington based think tank, says it appears to him that 'if the federal government has abdicated its responsibility for immigration enforcement, then it must be responsible for making those jurisdictions whole'.