- The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected a plea by the
state's Medicaid provider to limit medical coverage for illegal immigrants
to emergency room and acute care.
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- The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS,
manager of the state's Medicaid program, is obligated to provide care to
illegals beyond emergency room and other acute care wards, justices ruled
unanimously Thursday.
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- According to Capitol Media Services and the Arizona Daily
Star, AHCCCS - which currently pays $75 million to $80 million a year in
emergency care for illegals - had refused to reimburse hospitals for services
it said were not covered. About one-third of that amount is covered by
state taxpayers; the federal government covers the rest.
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- AHCCCS had argued it was only obligated to pay for emergency
treatment - coverage that stopped once patients were moved to non-acute
care wards. But Justice Michael Ryan, writing for the high court, called
that definition far too narrow.
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- Frank Lopez, a spokesman for the Medicaid agency, said
officials would have to review the ruling, but he expressed confidence
AHCCCS would end up paying for the care of illegals who previously were
not considered the state's obligation.
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- A series of lawsuits followed after AHCCCS refused to
pay for the extra care in several cases.
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- In consolidating the complaints, justices said the state
Medicaid agency could not base its decision whether or not to pay the claims
on where the care was being given at hospitals.
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- "Whether a patient suffers from an emergency medical
condition (that the state must cover) does not depend upon the type of
bed or facility the patient may be in at any given time," Justice
Ryan wrote.
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- He said AHCCCS must instead use a standard of care based
on whether a patient's symptoms have, or could, put them in serious jeopardy,
seriously impair function or result in a severe dysfunction of any organ
or body part.
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- Despite the justices' ruling, the high court did not
say whether AHCCCS would have to cover any of the bills that resulted in
the lawsuits. Rather, the high court sent the case back to trial judges,
asking them to review each patient's record using the correct standard.
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- Critics of providing unlimited medical care to illegals
argue many of them use emergency departments as clinics, a practice that
not only can delay care for others but, since E.R. care is more expensive,
can also raise the overall costs of operating a hospital. This is especially
true in areas suffering from high immigration.
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- As WorldNetDaily reported, the cost of providing medical
care to illegals in and around Los Angeles is rising so fast that many
hospitals have cut services or closed emergency departments.
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- According to Project USA, an immigration reform group,
the problem is "epidemic" throughout California. The group adds
the problem is compounded because fewer taxes are being paid to support
care for illegals.
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- "Since employers usually pay illegal aliens 'off
the books,' neither the employer nor the workers pay payroll taxes,"
the group says.
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- Regarding health care, former immigration Lawyer Matt
Hayes said "it is amazing that America is willing to provide free
medical treatment to people who are not citizens - and even illegal aliens
- while the home countries of most all of those people will not do so."
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- "For the fiscally conservative, free medical treatment
for illegal aliens in an emergency is better than free medical treatment
for illegal aliens for all maladies, all the time," Hayes said in
a column for Fox News.
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- "But because America is now deluged with illegal
immigrants like it has never been - 8 million by the most recent government
estimate - the cost to taxpayers, even for emergency medical treatment,
has skyrocketed," he said.
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- The Border Counties Coalition, formed by the elected
officials of the 24 U.S. counties that border Mexico, Hayes said, reported
medical expenses for illegal immigrations in 2000 was $832 million just
for those counties.
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- Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., says the cost to the entire nation
is in the billions.
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- "According to one estimate, the cost of providing
federally-mandated health care to illegal immigrants is between $1.5 billion
and $2
- billion annually," he said in a Jan. 11, 2002 statement.
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- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34261
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