Report: Immigrants aren’t so taxing

Undocumented immigrants aren’t taxing the health care system as much as people think, according to a report released Thursday from the liberal Center for American Progress.

The public believes many “myths” about the impact of illegal immigration on health care availability, says the report, which cites studies in medical journals, reports from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and U.S. Department of Labor statistics as sources.

These misconceptions include beliefs that immigrants are “overburdening” public health programs like Medicaid, that immigrants are crossing the border solely to access health care and that immigrants are “free riders” in the system, the report says.

The organization supports improving health insurance coverage for immigrants.

“I hoped to dispel and debunk the myths, so we can have a more informed discussion about health care reforms,” said Meredith King, a health care policy analyst for the Center for American Progress and author of the report. “The purpose was to get the facts out there.”

The facts, King said, include that most immigrants aren’t eligible for Medicaid, except in certain emergencies, and that native-born citizens are using more public health insurance funds than immigrants.

Another “myth,” according to the report, is that immigrants are voracious health care consumers, clogging doctor’s offices and clinics. Actually, because immigrants are likely to be uninsured, they’re more likely to hold off on accessing health care until the problem is severe, the report says.

Border health officials have said in the past that undocumented immigration is costing border hospitals considerable money. A study by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition in 2000 concluded that Texas lost $74 million in health care for undocumented immigrants, and that nearly one-fourth of border hospitals’ uncompensated costs are for undocumented immigrants’ emergency room visits.

In general, though, immigrants’ impact on local hospitals and emergency rooms is difficult to quantify, Jim Springfield, CEO of Valley Baptist Health System, said.

Valley Baptist spent $244 million on uncompensated care in 2006, which includes charity care, uncovered Medicare and Medicaid costs and care for undocumented immigrants, officials said.

The system has received some federal funds to recoup the costs of treating immigrants, but hospital officials say they didn’t immediately know how much.

The government is paying $1 billion to hospitals over a four-year period to cover the cost of treating immigrants under a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services program. The money is distributed based on each state’s relative percentage of undocumented immigrants.

Health experts and local officials said that although undocumented immigrants pose “some burden” on Texas’ health-care system, the bigger burden is the growing uninsured population.

“The fundamental problem is that 25 percent (of Texans) are uninsured,” said Ernie Schmid, director of policy analysis for Texas Hospital Association. “Of that, only a small portion are immigrants.”

About 5 million Texans are uninsured, he said. The state has about 1 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom can be counted among the uninsured, he said.

Many immigrants don’t see a primary doctor because they don’t have insurance, and so they end up having more expensive health problems that are costly to the system, Schmid said.

The solution is to make sure that all residents, including immigrants, have access to primary care, said one local health official.

“We spend far too much on end-stage treatment than on prevention,” said Dr. Brian Smith, regional director for the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Region 11, which includes the Rio Grande Valley. “We could use our funding more wisely.”

Smith said that immigrants often come to the counties’ health departments for prenatal care and immunizations, and he believes that’s money well spent.

“It benefits all of us,” he said. “We have to immunize to prevent outbreaks of disease … and prenatal care saves many dollars that would be spent through emergency Medicaid.”