According to Customs and Border Protection data, illegal immigrants at the U.S. border have surged by 48 percent since the record in fiscal year 2021 and nearly tripled since fiscal year 2019. Last year alone, over 3.2 million apprehensions were recorded, setting a new record for illegal border crossings.
Recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data revealed that total Medicaid costs for emergency services for undocumented aliens surpassed $7 billion in fiscal year 2021 and totaled more than $5 billion in fiscal year 2022. Both years represent a significant spike from the $3 billion in fiscal year 2020.
In Colorado, Denver Health CEO Donna Lynne said approximately 8,000 illegal immigrants made around 20,000 visits to the Denver health system in 2023 alone. Dane Roper, a public information officer for Denver Health, disclosed that the total bill for uncompensated care costs in Denver last year was $140 million, with over $10 million attributed to care for new immigrants. This represents a dramatic increase from previous years, with uncompensated costs doubling from $60 million in 2020 to $120 million in 2022. (Related: California to give illegals taxpayer-funded healthcare.)
"The perspective we’ve been trying to emphasize all along is that providing healthcare services for an influx of new immigrants who are unable to pay for their care is adding additional strain to an already significant uncompensated care burden," Roper said.
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Healthcare facilities along the Arizona-Mexico border face the same challenges.
Robert Trenschel, the CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona, said illegal immigrants often require extensive medical intervention, including dialysis, cardiac catheterization and even heart surgery. Some of them are also pregnant with little to no prenatal treatment.
These, in turn, increased the number of newborns that required neonatal care for 30 days or longer, and illegal immigrants ended up staying in the ICU ward for 30 days or longer.
Illegal immigrants receive healthcare benefits presumably intended for military veterans and other American patients
The strain on medical professionals and healthcare resources due to the influx of illegal immigrants has had a ripple effect on American patients, especially military veterans,
According to a South Californian doctor who chose to remain anonymous, military veterans usually face negligence, prolonged wait times for appointments and limited access to care at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
"It takes forever for these VA patients to get seen at the clinic. It takes months to get an appointment. There is very limited care for the veterans out here. The VA program has been neglected as a result of having to put more money into funding for the ICE [Immiration and Customs Enforcement] detention centers," the doctor said.
But instead of dealing with the impact, Darin Selnick, a senior policy advisor for the advocacy group Concerned Veterans for America, revealed in December that the VA, along with ICE, processed 161,000 medical and dental claims for illegal immigrants in 2022 while consistently denying proper care to actual veterans.
In turn, he urged the government to investigate this abuse and to protect and provide more care for the country's veterans.
"It's got to stop. Congress needs to investigate this. Last year, Mayorkas said in testimony that they were working with the VA to go ahead and expand this, possibly in medical centers. We don't know exactly how deep this is. It's got to be investigated," said Selnick.
Watch this clip from Fox News as Darin Selnick discusses the VA's role in providing medical care to illegal immigrants.
This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.
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