US hospitals send hundreds of immigrant patients back to home countries to curb cost of care

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US hospitals send hundreds of immigrant patients back to home countries to curb cost of care
By Associated Press,
Updated: Tuesday, April 23, 2:15 AM

DES MOINES, Iowa — Days after they were badly hurt in a car accident, Jacinto Cruz and Jose Rodriguez-Saldana lay unconscious in an Iowa hospital while the American health care system weighed what to do with the two immigrants from Mexico.

The men had health insurance from jobs at one of the nation’s largest pork producers. But neither had legal permission to live in the U.S., nor was it clear whether their insurance would pay for the long-term rehabilitation they needed.

So Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines took matters into its own hands: After consulting with the patients’ families, it quietly loaded the two comatose men onto a private jet that flew them back to Mexico, effectively deporting them without consulting any court or federal agency.

When the men awoke, they were more than 1,800 miles away in a hospital in Veracruz, on the Mexican Gulf Coast.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-hospitals-send-hundreds-of-immigrant-patients-back-to-home-countries-to-curb-cost-of-care/2013/04/23/8cce5224-abe4-11e2-9493-2ff3bf26c4b4_story.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. Despicable beyond words. K&R nt

[ReRe]

2. That hospital needs to be shut down...

... as in PRONTO! Am I going crazy or is this country going crazy?

[Wednesdays]

6. YOU are the one who's crazy

Don't you believe in an American's God-given right to make a profit?

[ReRe]

11. You can stop hitting me over the head...

... with that beer bottle anytime now. Ouch. That smarts! And you was so over-zealous to knock some sense into me, you forgot your sarcasm thingy. So I dedicate this to you, Wednesdays:

[happyslug]

9. For what? The article clearly stated the FAMILY OF THE VICTIMS WERE CONSULTED and apparently agreed.

"After consulting with the patients’ families"

Sorry, in this case I do NOT see the Hospital doing anything wrong, the victims were unconscious and thus the Hospital asked their family what to do, apparently the family agreed to ship them back home to Mexico (This is the Hospital's position, the Family said they never agreed to the transfer). If we take the position of the Hospital as true, the request by the Hospital is just like if the family asked the Hospital to ship the victim to a hospital nearer them, even if that hospital and family is in the States.

I suspect the reason this example was given, was the hospital was willing to talk about the transfer, most hospitals do not want to talk about such transfers (and while the case is still in litigation, it appears to be over, the Hospital won for the simple reason it did no malpractice). The reason the Hospital talked was they did nothing the family did not agreed to (at least that is the Hospital's position). The rest of the article discuss such transfers, most of which do NOT have input from the victim's family and there are no regulations on such transfers, nor the need to even ask family members about the transfer.

Now, the family is saying they never agreed to the transfer, while the Hospital said they did. A Federal Court ruled that the Hospital was NOT liable for the inadequate care the Victim received in Mexico (The American Hospital took the Patients in for emergency care only, once stabilized the victims had to go elsewhere for long term treatment, given such long term treatment is paid by medicaid, i.e welfare, and illegal immigrants can NOT get Welfare, no long term treatment center wanted to take them in, and thus the Hospital arranged to transfer them to a hospital in Mexico).

Remember the Methodist hospital is NOT a long term treatment center, it is for emergency and other "Acute" care. The Methodist Hospital could NOT provide the long term care for it was NOT equipped to provide such long term care. No one else wanted them for Medicaid would not pay for their care. Thus the transfer to Mexico, with what the Hospital Claims the Family's permission.

My favorite Paragraph in the Article:

Some hospitals call immigration authorities when they receive patients without immigration documentation, but the government rarely responds, Nessel said. Taking custody of the patient would also require the government to assume financial responsibility for care.Some hospitals call immigration authorities when they receive patients without immigration documentation, but the government rarely responds, Nessel said. Taking custody of the patient would also require the government to assume financial responsibility for care.

[ReRe]

14. And I suppose you would defend Nevada....

... busing their mentally-ill patients all over the United States (re. a story that was posted here yesterday or day before.) This is what happens when medical care is privatized. The patient is nothing but an avenue to untold millions. If the patient don't have the money, honey, then you guys don't have the time. And the hospital in this article calls itself Methodist!

[happyslug]

15. The issue is who is PAYING for the hospital care???? Are you????

If you are, there are many hospitals who are willing to send you the bill. He is an illegal immigrant and thus NOT eligible for Welfare, and thus no eligible for Medicaid. Thus neither the Federal Government or the State Government will pay for his treatment. It is rare for health insurance to pay for long term treatment (Most health insurance follows Medicare rules, only pays for three days of hospitalization). Once someone has maxed out the Hospital time permitted by his health care provider, he has to pay for the care himself, until his assets have been depleted so he is eligible for welfare (Generally if your assets are less then $2000 and that includes your house).

Now, the hospital does have some funds for emergency care, but even in that regards their lose money. Many urban and rural hospital are financially marginal given the number of poor they have to handle and NOT get paid for it (Suburban Hospitals on the other hand, due to their locations have much lower level of poor they have to treat and thus tend to be profitable).

Now, under Federal Law, a person can NOT be forced out of a Hospital unless he agrees OR a place opens that will take him that can treat him at the lowest possible cost. In this case, no one would take this person, for he was NOT eligible for Medicaid (Thus who ever took him would have to assume the cost of keeping him). Given the cost to keep a bed open in a Hospital can run several hundred dollars a day. Flying someone home quickly become the cheaper alternative.

Sorry, but the law as it is forces the Hospital to do what it did and that law was written by Congress. Congress is the real culprit here, due to its insistence to keep Medicaid costs DOWN by saying NO illegal immigrants can get medicaid. (The states are a secondary factor, for they also refuse to pay for such Medical care).

Sorry, sooner or later most things are reduced to money and in this type of case the Hospitals lose enough money on US Citizens to have anything to spare on anyone else (Medicaid pays less then any other health program or provider, and you have American Citizens who can NOT get Medicaid or gets less treatment due to the fact medicaid pays less then other insurance).

[ReRe]

17. Happyslug...

... there is nothing you can do or say that will turn me against these Mexicans, or any other of the less fortunate. This country isn't broke. There is money to pay for the health care of everyone inside our borders. Health and Human Services seems to have totally collapsed in the states of Nevada and Iowa. Thank you for the brisk discussion.

[happyslug]

19. I pointed out the problem is Congress NOT any one elses.

Congress has said they will NOT pay for illegal Immigrants, and given no one else has the funds, nor can anyone else. We may dislike the decision of Congress, but the decision has been made. and we have to live with it.

[ReRe]

20. No, we DON'T have to "live with it."

Because no one made no such decision. Adios amigos.

[AAO]

3. The best health care in the world!

[riderinthestorm]

13. USA! USA!! (but only if you can afford it or have excellent insurance!!) nt

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[Wednesdays]

5. The message = "Fend for yourselves, you're on your own."

[valerief]

7. How "Christian" of them. nt

[happyslug]

10. After asking the Victim's Family, who agreed they wanted the victims back home in Mexico?

While the overall Article is about transfers without family input, the Article used a transfer that did have family input. I suspect the reason this incident was used, was the Hospital was willing to talk about it for they did nothing wrong (and the Family and the Victims do NOT say the Hospital did anything wrong from a medical treatment point of view).

Please note, the Family is saying they never agreed to the transfer, the Hospital said they did agree. The malpractice case was dismissed, for any malpractice occurred in Mexico NOT in the US for the US Hospital did no long term treatment for it is NOT equipped to do long term treatment. Once Stabilized the victims had to go some place else, and the normal place, long term care facilities, paid almost 100% by Welfare payments, would NOT take someone who is NOT eligible for Welfare.

[Sunlei]

8. I bet that was the insurance companies idea.

and the 'pork producer's idea who hires visa workers to work the pig factories. In their contract they probably don't want to pay for years of a disabled visa worker.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

18. These individuals are not visa workers

They were hired by this company with the company's knowledge that they didn't have legal presence or legal authorization to work in the U.S.

Had they been here on visas, there are some agreements in place between the U.S. and many countries that discuss how to deal with health care costs, etc.

The employer is scum and hopefully it will receive a nice visit by ICE very soon.

[kickysnana]

12. Mexico is not Iraq they have a functioning society..

Some thoughts:
with clinics, hospitals and everything.
It costs a lot less to get the same care in Mexico and if insurance were going to pay they would pay either place (?) Hospitals in the US no longer give carte blanche to anyone even with insurance so they may even get better care for less money in Mexico. We are now unjustifiably arrogant about these things.
No language barrier and the rehab care would be much more humane than the slam bam thank you mam stuff you get here due to insurance rules.
The family was consulted. Perhaps there is family support there but not here.

My conclusion: I don't have enough information to decide whether this was good or bad but I definitely could not put this as worse than dumping mentally ill on the streets alone or giving them a bus ticket to anywhere policy a lot of places, or requiring mothers to die during pregnancy when there are other choices. Those things have been happening sporadically here and with the new Christian Sharia Laws pushed through lately it will be happening much more frequently. Interesting to know though. Cause this easily evolve into something much worse.

[riderinthestorm]

16. I'm an Irish citizen and my family and I have discussed this.

If I were to come down with some incredibly expensive medical issue I'd leave the US for Ireland for treatment in order to spare the outrageous cost burden for my family (I do have insurance but the co-pays and deductibles would, in the event of something catastrophic, be tremendous).

Even comatose - the cost of a medical flight (lets just say $40 - 50k) would be FAR cheaper than the final medical bill me and my family would have by the time I was finished. At least there's a possibility of paying off a medical flight.

Mexico has good quality medical care so I don't believe its as though the men were being shipped off to say, the African desert....

Its a very interesting case however. There's a lot to ponder here...