Mexico Supports Mexicans Everwhere - Until There's A Bill Involved:
By Digger
Due to the recent fires in California, which happen every year, there are 18 people currently in a UCSD Medical Center burn ward after being caught in the fires (see video of the news reports below).
Of these 18, 11 are illegal aliens from Mexico, four of which are in critical condition. I have no problems with our hospitals caring for these individuals.
Where I do have a problem is that they are all uninsured and once again the American people are being expected to pay for their full care for free. UCSD Medical Center alone swallows $30,000,000 a year in uncompensated care each year.
Felipe Calderon stated in September, 2007 that "Wherever There Is A Mexican, That Is Mexico”, but Mexico seems to conveniently disappear when it comes time to pay the bill.
I find it outrageous that Americans are expected to continue to cover the costs of illegal aliens injured in the United States.
These
burn victims will cost the US taxpayers a combined minimum of around $500,000 if their stay is the average of 15-days, but in this case doctors say they will be there longer. Then there is the continued care costs, which could last months or years, after that.
Meanwhile the other 7 people in the burn unit will have to shell out their payment themselves and woe to them if they don't have insurance, because their financial futures will be destroyed. No free care for them, they are "the privileged" they are Americans and can magically make money appear from nowhere.
Mexico Supports Mexicans Everwhere - Until There's A Bill Involved : Diggers Realm
This also is from Signonsandiego.com:
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- 11 of 18 in burn unit undocumented
According to the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, the burn victims are from central and southern Mexico, and include one woman. Four are in critical condition. All were rescued north of Tecate last week, said consulate spokesman Alberto Lozano, and i
t is suspected they had crossed the border illegally before coming face to face with the Harris fire.
With some facing a long rehabilitation, hospital officials said they realize many U.S. taxpayers don't believe UCSD should provide such expensive hospital care to illegal immigrants. But, by law, that care must be provided “to anyone who comes regardless of their ability to pay.”
Last year, San Diego County hospitals provided $619 million in uncompensated care, and an estimated 10 percent to 17 percent of that paid for treatment for undocumented immigrants, according to the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
When patients need long-term nursing care, said UCSD spokeswoman Leslie Franz, “we make arrangements on a case-by-case basis. This could mean anything from them continuing to receive care from us,
or we might transition them to another facility in that person's home state or another country, if we can expedite that.”
However, appropriate care in a person's native country is not always available.
aid rules
Esmeralda Siu of the Coalición Pro Defensa del Migrante, a network of migrant shelters and other services in Baja California, said rules prevent the United States from sending Mexican nationals home before they can travel safely.
“By law, they can't deport them if they are injured,” said Siu, who is based in Tijuana.
“They have to be stabilized, and that they accept leaving, and that they are well to travel.”
For example,
the federal government provides $250 million per year for payments to eligible providers for emergency health care to undocumented immigrants. In 2005,
San Diego County received only $1.4 million of that money.
The Mexican consulate is willing to provide assistance to Mexican nationals who are fire victims, spokesman Lozano said. A woman who lost her home in the firestorm and wanted to return to her hometown in Mexico was provided airfare, he said.
The consulate has not received any request for financial assistance for those hospitalized, Lozano said.
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