Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's sad. So going back to one of the questions posed in my OP, what if I entered an emergency room without ID, refused to speak or give any personal information, and simply pointed to what was ailing me when the nurse approached. Would they treat me any differently than an obvious illegal? Would they let me just walk out of the facility after the services were performed? And if so, how would it go down from there?
Hospitals have specialists whose job it is to get the maximum amount of money from you toward your care. They work legals and illegals interchangably.
They have a whole mess of strategies to figure out who you are and whether you can pay and how much. And they do their best to get it out of you and get you committed to paying more later.
They have some big guns. If you stand mute and ain't dying on the spot they refuse to treat you until they can communicate. If you communicate then they go after the financing. If they can't indentify ou they may balk at treating you until they have next of kin addresses etc.
If you come in bleeding to death they will treat you and then get after all this later.
The big problem is with the really poor, legal or illegal. Can't get water from a stone.
Oh I don't know....I've been really poor in my life, particularly when my son was two years old and was hospitalized with pneumonia. I was one paycheck away from homelessness at that time, working two jobs and not receiving a dime in child support.
With all of my bills, I had about $50 expendable cash at the end of the month before groceries. The hospital wanted it all. The fact that I had kids to feed held no sway with them, they wanted their money and they were going to bleed me to get it (or starve my chidren to death, whichever came first). I got no pass because we were living below poverty level. I finally talked them into taking $20 a month and eventually paid them off after about seven years.
What they had from me, that they likely don't get from illegal aliens, was all of my personal information. If I was one day late with their $20, they called me at home, they called me at work, they sent letters....
You can squeeze blood from a turnip. It just has to be a LEGAL turnip.
Oh I don't know....I've been really poor in my life, particularly when my son was two years old and was hospitalized with pneumonia. I was one paycheck away from homelessness at that time, working two jobs and not receiving a dime in child support.
With all of my bills, I had about $50 expendable cash at the end of the month before groceries. The hospital wanted it all. The fact that I had kids to feed held no sway with them, they wanted their money and they were going to bleed me to get it (or starve my chidren to death, whichever came first). I got no pass because we were living below poverty level. I finally talked them into taking $20 a month and eventually paid them off after about seven years.
What they had from me, that they likely don't get from illegal aliens, was all of my personal information. If I was one day late with their $20, they called me at home, they called me at work, they sent letters....
You can squeeze blood from a turnip. It just has to be a LEGAL turnip.
Actually no. The welfare queen down the block simply refers the caller to the local wefare office. To the degree they can they do to anyone what they did to you.
Structurally the illegal may actually be in a little better shape. YOu can't run back to Mexico if it all goes to hell. But they will absolutely try and get their $20 from the illegal as well.
If an illegal goes to a hospital to have a baby or to treat an injury, why are they not taken into custody after they are treated.
Because the hospitals do not want to take a chance of getting sued by some bleeding heart, pro-illegal immigrant group like LULAC, all for doing what they should be doing. Besides if they bother to check their immigration status and called it in to ICE, and the person was deported, then they can't claim the treatment to any of the many government money sources to pay for it.
I recognize that the hospital cannot refuse them treatment, but what happens afterwards? Do they just release them and pass the bill to the taxpayers?
Yes, what other government money sources don't pay then you, as a legal citizen, get stuck with in the former of higher medical bills when you, the legal citizen, have to use the hospital for your care.
The mission has already been accomplished (Anchor baby dropped).
That is why they do "the horizontal mambo" and then make sure they drop their little welfare packages in the US!
Is ICE contacted at all?
Rarely and if they are then ICE won't bother with one person unless someone shouts loud enough!
How does this work? If I walked into an emergency room bleeding without identification and all I said was "No speka englash", what would I experience?
The hospital would find someone that speaks the language you claim to speak. When they determine that you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes they will refuse to deal with you promptly until you show them your insurance coverage card, photo I.D., birth certificate, SSAN card, credit cards, shoe size, etc., etc. They will make sure they get their money from you!
How about with obtaining a drivers liscense? How de we issue them to known illegals. The Department of Transportation is a federal agency. Do they not uphold our laws?
The Feds have what is called a Temporary ID Number (TIN) that they have been issuing to illegals for years. With a TIN the illegal can do just about anything you can including getting a drivers license, home loan, etc. When the illegal is ready to skip town and leave behind all of their bills they will just apply for a new TIN and start over elsewhere. The DOT, as well as the remainder of the federal agencies don't bother to enforce the laws as it takes away from their long weekends, short work days, etc.
How do states expect to be able to enforce immigration policy if they can't even take care of business under these two circumstances. Everyday I see posts on this forum about what we can do to thwart illegal immigration. Build a high wall with electrical barbed wire atop it. Put an electronic monitor on their ankle. Yada Yada Yada....... Why go through any of this trouble when we just let them abuse our system with our blessings right in front of our eyes?
The illegal immigration issue is a federal issue and not a State issue. Unfortunately the Federal government refuses to handle the problem. When the States try to handle the problem (i.e. Arizona) the Federal government ties their hands, sues them in court, uses the weight of the federal courts to block their efforts, etc.
Do I just not get it??? What am I missing? How is it that a trip to the hospital for a normal person costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, but they can just waltz in and have a field day at our expense?
You do get it! You're not missing anything! I know this set of questions were most likely rhetorical in nature. It would be nice though if more people would get it!
Oh you get it all right. Our Politicians have swayed our laws, court system and social service network to the point laws don't get enforced. We have a De Facto two sets of implied laws now in the good ol US of A.
One set is for legal Americans that appear to be able to afford to abide by all laws and; another set for illegal immigrants that claim they cannot pay fines for extraneous activity above and beyond those civil violations that they committed to get here.
The tax payer foots the bill for the pandering politicians. Interesting situation we've (we and them) created. We now have a culture of parasite like behavior passed from generation to generation of illegal immigrants.
You are exactly right! I will add though that the laws of this country are not made to find and prosecute the guilty. The laws in this country are made to persecute the innocent law abiding citizen. Criminals, of which illegal immigrants are, do not care about the laws and will continue to break them as long as they can. However if you drive 5 miles over the speed, just one time, you will be saddled with a ticket, large fine, points on your license, higher insurance premiums, etc. You can be the most honest, upstanding, charitable person around and you will get screwed!
Well for one, they can use their Mexican drivers licenses when driving in the USA, but many never had a Mexican drivers license and there are states that give them one very easily.
Texas hands out a DL to anyone that can walk, crawl, or be dragged into their DL stations. I took someone down to a local DFW DL station once as they needed to get their Texas license. This individual is Anglo but spoke fluent Spanish, among other languages. As we stood in line the person became increasingly angry and when I asked why I was told that the individual was listening to one of the DL workers off to the side, at the testing stations, not only reading the DL test questions to the applicant but also giving them the answers. The individual taking the test was so happy that they passed their test. Of course they were since it was handed to them.
By the way when the individual I was with made it to the counter they were giving an extreme hard time for not bringing in necessary documents, not properly filling out the paperwork, and was turned away after an hour wait and told to come back when they had everything the DL station wanted. Go figure that one out!
Actually no. The welfare queen down the block simply refers the caller to the local wefare office. To the degree they can they do to anyone what they did to you.
Structurally the illegal may actually be in a little better shape. YOu can't run back to Mexico if it all goes to hell. But they will absolutely try and get their $20 from the illegal as well.
Yeah....no.
As the mother of three kids, I've spent enough time in the ER to know that the above is absolutely is not true.
Illegals walk in, they get treated, they leave. I've seen it happen too many times to believe otherwise.
Show up in the hospital emergency room with a gunshot or knife wound or a child who has fallen off a swing, though, and see just how quickly law enforcement or Social Services is called in! The automatic assumption of hospital staff will be that some type of crime has been committed. In my opinion an illegal showing up at the hospital to drop their illegal baby to make it "American" should at the very least be considered child abuse, due to the future difficulties the parent is willfully prepared to put their child through for their own selfish benefits.
If an illegal goes to a hospital to have a baby or to treat an injury, why are they not taken into custody after they are treated. I recognize that the hospital cannot refuse them treatment, but what happens afterwards? Do they just release them and pass the bill to the taxpayers? The mission has already been accomplished (Anchor baby dropped). Is ICE contacted at all? How does this work? If I walked into an emergency room bleeding without identification and all I said was "No speka englash", what would I experience?
How about with obtaining a drivers liscense? How de we issue them to known illegals. The Department of Transportation is a federal agency. Do they not uphold our laws?
How do states expect to be able to enforce immigration policy if they can't even take care of business under these two circumstances. Everyday I see posts on this forum about what we can do to thwart illegal immigration. Build a high wall with electrical barbed wire atop it. Put an electronic monitor on their ankle. Yada Yada Yada....... Why go through any of this trouble when we just let them abuse our system with our blessings right in front of our eyes?
Do I just not get it??? What am I missing? How is it that a trip to the hospital for a normal person costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, but they can just waltz in and have a field day at our expense?
Your first error is believing that state issued driver's licences are issued by the US Department of Transportation.
[quote]
Quote:
Do they just release them and pass the bill to the taxpayers?
Are these not two differnt issues you are trying to answer? First, there is not federal provision that a hospital call ICE/DHS when a patient is not a US citizen. Secondly, How the Hospital's bills get paid is up to the Hospital, Hospital district, County, State, and federal government. Check with the Hospital/Hospital district in your county to find what that Hospital does.
[quote]
Quote:
How do states expect to be able to enforce immigration policy if they can't even take care of business under these two circumstances.
Take care of business? what does that mean? What immigration policy are states unable to enforce?
Location: lifelong Detroiter transplanted to Milwaukee
117 posts, read 367,716 times
Reputation: 120
Another aspect of this issue is that if it became known that showing up to the hospital would result in being deported, illegal immigrants would avoid going to the hospital and quickly you would see outraged stories about people dying horrible deaths because they avoided going to the hospital. You can imagine that a lot of people would not be comfortable with illegal immigrants dying from preventable causes on our soil.
As for the issue of poor people and paying hospital bills, basically, my observation has been the people who are poor enough that they have no hope or expectation of ever buying a home or such (no need to worry about the credit score being trashed) don't worry about paying the medical bills, even if they're legal.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
