Las Vegas NowHospital Bills for Illegal Immigrants: Who Pays?

Hospital Bills for Illegal Immigrants: Who Pays?

Contact Anchor Colleen May.

The federal government will now pick up the tab for the cost of treating illegal immigrants in valley emergency rooms.

Congress has set aside a billion dollars nationally. But local health care providers warn the funding is hardly the cure all for the system's ills.

Border states like California and Texas will get the bulk of the money. The formula based on the number of undocumented immigrants and immigration arrests. Nevada's cut, according to some hospitals, may as well be a band-aid for a gaping wound.

For people without health insurance, a valley hospital's emergency room is the doctor's office offering a guarantee of service regardless of ability to pay. Sunrise hospital treats roughly a third of the valley's uninsured. With annual losses totaling more than $25 million.

Ann Lynch, with Sunrise Hospital, says, "We do not have a printing press in the basement so somebody has to pick up the costs for those who do not pay. And right now, we don't receive anything from the county or the state for treating people who are uninsured. "

To cover the costs of treating illegal immigrants, hospitals like Sunrise can now bill the federal government. Based on Nevada's percentage of undocumented residents the state will receive $2.4 million.

Lynch adds, "No matter how you cut it, $2 million for the State of Nevada is not a very big swipe at the uninsured."

Legal or illegal, despite the small sum Spanish talk radio host Miguel Barrientos applauds the effort pointing out that the immigrant community contributes millions of dollars in local, state and federal taxes.

Barrientos, with Southwest Hispanic Media, says, "We don't want the American public to say my taxes are paying for illegals to get health treatment, it's not true. This is their money going back to work for health care."

Identifying that population may be more difficult than paying to treat it. Local hospitals have a "don't ask, don't tell" type of policy when it comes to illegal aliens. Every patient is entitled to the same respect and the same care beyond their doors.

The federal agency overseeing the program has created forms for hospitals to use to identify eligible patients. And they state providers should not ask whether someone is illegal.

Instead they're encouraged to use a patient's identification to determine whether or not they're in the country legally.