uncompensated care

[Guest guest]

As and Tina have said, uncompensated care is a big issue, not one

exclusively related to immigrant workers, but one in which immigrant

workers play a big role. Undocumented immigrants frequently rely on

hospitals when they are in great need of medical care. In life-threatening

situations, undocumented immigrants are eligible for Emergency Medicaid.

The Welfare Reform law, which conditioned regular Medicaid on being a

" qualified " immigrant, did not restrict access to Emergency Medicaid on the

basis of immigration status. Emergency Medicaid, however, is limited to

care needed in life-threatening situations. This is a great limitation.

In the absence of eligibility of Medicaid or CHIP, uninsured people --

whether they are legal or not -- end up using hospitals and creating bills

for uncompensated care.

The problem of uncompensated care is in no way limited to the border

region. In early September, an article in the NY Times discussed the

problem of uncompensated care nationally and it was far greater than the

sum listed for the border. This is a problem requiring a national solution.

One other thing to keep in mind is that in times of deficit, at both the

national and state levels, new federal programs are probably unlikely.

Indeed, yesterday's NY Times reported that about $1 billion in state SCHIP

funds has to be returned to the federal treasury, based on a requirement of

the SCHIP program which gave the states 3 years to use the funds they

received or lose them. Efforts are also underway to try to restore these

funds to the states because their need for the money will grow as more

children are enrolled in the program. However, federal action to restore

this money is not extremely likely because the Congress is about to go home

for the election period -- and when it returns it has to pass

appropriations bills for just about every government agency.

Expansion of a Medicaid or SCHIP - type program for low income adults would

go a long way to reducing the total costs of uncompensated care.