THE PARADOX OF IMMIGRATION : THE US GOVT TOLERATES COMPANIES THAT HIRE ILLEGALS, BUT HOSPITAL ARE REPORTING THEM

 

As immigration reform crawls through the halls of Congress, and is being stalled with one pretext or another, a disturbing trend is making the news.

American hospitals have become a sort of enforcement corridor for the deportation of illegal aliens.  

As many people propose different avenues to bring illegal immigration under control, such as better enforcement of illegal employment of undocumented citizens, some others are actually bolstering large corporations' efforts to stop the enforcement of immigration laws, saying that it would harm business and cut bottom lines.

But hospital are now doing their own enforcing to try to cut costs, and what they are doing, is in itself illegal, since their mandate is to treat patients, not to use immigration law to cut their costs without the intervention of government agencies.

In fact, over the past six years, several watchdog groups have tallied more than 800 cases of medical deportations, either successful or not, by hospitals.  

Often the undocumented, or 'illegal' alien is taken to a hospital after an injury or in ill health, only to find themselves transported by plane to a facility in their own country.

But the laws are clear: the Emergency Medical Treatment and ACtive Labor Act says that hospitals are required to treat all patients regardless of their medical insurance status or immigration status, for emergency care.

Once the patient is out of danger however, the hospital is no longer required to care for the patient. And that's when the hospitals take action.  But repatriation is an action that only a government official or agency can do.  Placing a patient on a plane, regardless of whether he/she has a family in the United States or not, and shipping him back to his country, is an act of clear abuse of the federal law.

With the new Affordable Care Act are coming changes that might very well increase the number of patients 'medically repatriated' during care.  In fact the Affordable Care Act will decrease substantially the amount of Medicaid money given to hospital, a large part of which does go to the care of undocumented immigrants.

Most of the medically repatriated are transported when the patient is unconscious.  

However this does pose some important moral questions.  If a person has been hired as an undocumented illegal alien, but not given health insurance, should the hospital become agents of enforcement? 

Source: MNT 4.24.13