By Adriana Cohen
RealClearPolitics.com
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/20/open_borders_dems_threaten_us_health_care_system_142716.html
The
Impact Of Immigrants On State Medicaid Budgets
What is
the impact of immigrants on state Medicaid budgets?
Medicaid,
which is jointly funded by the states and the federal government, is the chief
source of state financing to pay for the health needs of low-income residents.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, it represents
$1 out of every $6 spent on healthcare in the US. The Pew Charitable Trust analyzed state
Medicaid data. Examining budgets from 2000—2013, it found that the percentage
of states’ own funds spent on Medicaid in fiscal year 2013 was higher in 49
states.
In 2014,
A report by the Center for Immigration Studies analyzed
government data, and found that immigrants and their children accounted for 42
percent revealed that of the growth in Medicaid enrollment from 2011 to 2013.
Among the report’s findings:
- "The number of immigrants and their
U.S.-born children (under 18) on Medicaid grew twice as fast as the number
of natives and their children on Medicaid from 2011 to 2013 — 11 percent
vs. 5 percent.
- About two-thirds of the growth in Medicaid
associated with immigrants was among immigrants themselves, rather than
the U.S.-born children of immigrants.
- The increase in Medicaid enrollment among
immigrants and their children can be roughly estimated as costing $4.6
billion annually. By 2013, 25 percent of immigrants and their children
were on Medicaid, compared to 16 percent of natives and their children.”
Those
immigrants who enter the United States illegally present special, and potentially
costly, health care concerns. Officially, Illegal aliens are not eligible for
Medicaid, other than limited emergency services, and Obamacare omits coverage
for them. However, their U.S.-born children are eligible. It should also
be noted that individual states may choose to use their own resources to pay
for the health care needs of illegals.
A 2007 Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
study reported:
“State
and local governments incur costs for providing services to unauthorized
immigrants and have limited options for avoiding or minimizing those costs […]
Rules governing many federal programs, as well as decisions handed down by
various courts, limit the authority of state and local governments to avoid or
constrain the costs of providing services to unauthorized immigrants […] The
tax revenues that unauthorized immigrants generate for state and local
governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to those
immigrants.”
People
entering the United States illegally from less developed areas present health
care challenges.
The Southern Medical Association (SMA) reports
that there’s a growing health concern over illegal immigrants bringing
infectious diseases into the United States. Approximately 700,000 illegal
immigrants enter annually, and three-quarters of these illegal immigrants come
from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Those entering the U.S.
legally are required to be screened for infectious disease. One thinks of
those vintage images of people being screened on Ellis Island. But similar
examinations are not similarly performed on those entering the nation
unauthorized. SMA notes:
“Illegal
immigration may expose Americans to diseases that have been virtually
eradicated, but are highly contagious, as in the case of TB […] Immigrants
coming here have been documented as having communicable diseases such as
tuberculosis and swine flu […] individuals coming in contact with people with
these diseases are at risk of becoming infected. Those most vulnerable to
contracting illnesses from illegals are the first responders such as the Border
Patrol agents. In turn, they may pass diseases and conditions on to their
children, spouses, seniors and those with whom they come in contact who have
compromised immune systems […] It isn’t the diseases that we have been
vaccinated against that are the most concerning, but ones like TB, which have
developed multiple drug resistance, or tropical diseases such as Dengue fever
that doctors may have difficulty diagnosing and for which there is no
treatment.”
Frank
Vernuccio serves as editor-in-chief of the New York Analysis
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