Emergency Health Care & Immigrants
Restricting emergency care for undocumented immigrants would ultimately decrease the well being of Texans and harm public safety.
Immigrants do not take up significant heath care resources
· Immigrants’ (documented and undocumented) healthcare expenditures were 55% less than those of US-born persons.
· 30 % of immigrants did not use healthcare at all in the course of a year. (American Journal of Public Health, 2005).
· Healthcare expenditures for undocumented immigrants are only 2.3% of the total healthcare expenditure. (PEW Hispanic center, 2006)
· Immigrant children receive 74% less overall healthcare than US born children. (America’s Progressive Community, 2005)
· Latino immigrants had the lowest health expenditures - $962 per person – half of those US-born Latinos ($1,870) and less than on third those of US-born whites (3,117). (America’s Progressive Community, 2005)
· Immigrant children received 71% less care in a doctor’s office than non-immigrant children. (America’s Progressive Community, 2005)
· Undocumented immigrants are healthier than the general population. (Senior Economist at Rand, Smith, J. P., 2005).
· Immigrants’ healthcare expenditures are $1,342 less than US-born individuals. Immigrants had lower expenditure for emergency care, office-based visits, outpatient visits, inpatient visits, and prescription drugs. (American Journal of Public Health, 2005)
· Health care expenditures for uninsured immigrant children were 86% lower than those for uninsured US-born children. (American Journal of Public Health, 2005)
· 66.4% of immigrants who are not US citizens have health insurance including 67% of immigrant children and 88% of elderly immigrants (American Journal of Public Health, 2000).
Immigrants help subsidize the health care system
· Many immigrants are helping subsidize care for the rest of the US population since immigrant families are paying taxes – including Medicare payroll taxes – and most pay health insurance premiums. (Physicians for a National Health Program, 2005)
· Immigrants will pay on average $80,000 per capita more in taxes than they use in government services over their lifetime. (National Research Council as cited in American Journal of Public Health, 2005).
Immigrants are restricted from most health care services
· Not even legal permanent residents are eligible to receive Medicaid unless they have resided in the US for at least 5 years. (American Journal of Public Health, 2005).
Emergency Department costs are not a result of illegal immigrants overusing the system
· Continued increases in emergency department (ED) use nationally are more likely driven by increased demand for health care in general than by changes in population (e.g. immigration). (Policy Journal of the Health Sphere, 2006)
· Communities with high ED use have fewer numbers of uninsured, Hispanic, and non-citizen residents. Preference of ED use by Americans is related to convenience, round-the-clock care delivery, and open access without an appointment. (Policy Journal of the Health Sphere, 2006)
We must continue compliance of federal law by providing emergency care to all Texas residents; thus helping the state department achieve the Nation’s goals of Healthy People 2010, developed by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010 provides a framework to help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy, improve their quality of life, and to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population. By continuing to provide emergency care for all Texas residents, the following would be achieved:
1. Promotion of access to comprehensive and high-quality preventive, primary, and emergency healthcare.
2. Increase the proportion of persons who have access to rapidly responding pre-hospital emergency medical services.
3. Reduce the proportion of persons who delay or have difficulty in getting emergency medical care.