The Federal Government Picks Up Part Of The Tab For Illegals In California

10 May, 2005 by John Hawkins

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Illegal alien apologists, who are opposed to enforcing our immigration laws, love to talk about what a benefit illegals are to our economy. But the reality is that the economy would take a very, very, minimal hit if we completely got rid of all the illegal aliens in this country. Furthermore, the costs of allowing illegal aliens here are absolutely staggering and they have a very real, very negative impact, on Americans.

Just take a look at one tiny piece of the puzzle in California that means that Americans will be paying more taxes to take care of illegals:

Beginning today, California hospitals and health care providers can charge the federal government for emergency care they provide to illegal immigrants.

The Bush administration announced final rules Monday for seeking reimbursements funded by a 2003 Medicare law that set aside $1 billion over four years.

California providers are to get $71 million of the $250 million that will be disbursed by Sept. 30 — more than providers in any other state.

That’s only a fraction of the estimated $500 million California hospitals spend each year caring for illegal immigrants. But it is a noteworthy contribution, said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Association, which represents hospitals.

…Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who pushed for the funding, said Monday that the money will “help to keep the doors of California’s safety net hospitals open.”

“This funding comes at a crucial time, when nine California hospitals have closed in the past year, due in part to a spike in costs associated with care for undocumented aliens,” said Feinstein, who is also seeking federal reimbursement to states for the costs they incur in incarcerating illegal immigrants.

Last May, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), proposed amending the 2003 law to require hospitals to report illegal immigrants to the federal government instead of caring for them. Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected that bill, fearing it could dissuade undocumented immigrants from seeking life-saving care or treatment for communicable diseases.”

So look at what’s happening here: California hospitals are being cheated out of 500 million dollars a year by illegals who shouldn’t be in this country in the first place. 9 hospitals have gone out of business, in part because of illegals. Furthermore, we’re not even talking about the costs of tax dollars illegals didn’t pay, schooling their kids, housing them in the prison system, & the time and resources the police have to spend dealing with almost unbelievable number of crimes committed by “undocumented workers”.

You know, it would be one thing if these were legal immigrants who had followed the rules and become American citizens. An American is an American is an American whether your ancestors came here on the Mayflower or whether you became a citizen 5 minutes ago.

But why should American citizens be forced to pay all this money to take care of people who weren’t born here, who didn’t come here legally, and who aren’t wanted here by a large majority of this country? Human decency may oblige us not to turn away anyone who comes to a hospital in need of emergency care, but instead of working out deals to take care of the costs, we should be doing what it takes to prevent illegals from getting here in the first place. Then, they can get medical care in their countries-of-origin, instead of coming here and sponging off of American taxpayers.

Hat tip to Outside The Beltway for the story.