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twitterUnpaid bills continue to dog UMC, vex officials
Hospital’s latest report covers those without SS numbers
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Steve Sisolak
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- UMC’s bill collections baffle (7-1-2009)
- Grant to restore cancer programs at UMC (5-28-2009)
- Editorial: Possible relief for UMC (4-14-2009)
- Fighting for its life, UMC program loses patient (4-14-2009)
- Bill to open UMC cancer OK'd on party lines (4-9-2009)
- A black eye in medicine brings posturing, again (4-9-2009)
- UMC CEO: Bill to open cancer center doesn't address funding (4-8-2009)
- State measure could force closure of UMC, county says (3-31-2009)
- UMC might benefit from a hospital taxing district (1-18-2009)
Patients who either have no Social Security numbers or refused to provide them to University Medical Center failed to pay $114.3 million in bills from the public hospital last year.
Of that total, said Kathy Silver, UMC’s CEO, the actual cost to taxpayers is about $33 million. The markup, hospital spokesman Rick Plummer said, is one way to help offset the costs of nonpaying patients.
“It may only cost $3 for that aspirin, but we have to charge $10 because the guy next to you isn’t paying,” he said.
The hospital reported the figures to commissioners this week. Commissioner Steve Sisolak asked for the report, wanting to know what taxpayers are paying for treatment of patients with no insurance and no Social Security numbers. He thought it would be a way to determine how much of UMC’s unpaid bills are attributable to illegal immigrants.
The report is expected to fuel discussion about the hospital’s fiscal hemorrhaging at the commissioners’ “mini-retreat” this afternoon.
But Silver cautioned that the report doesn’t really establish a grand total for the cost of treating illegal immigrants. She also isn’t sure the report can be that useful in crafting policy.
“This is far from scientific, because though we can make assumptions that those without Social Security numbers might be here illegally, we find some with Social Security numbers are not here legally either,” she explained. “Sometimes they are making up a number. Sometimes they are using someone else’s number, or they don’t give us a number because they are running from a bad past, credit-wise.”
Plus, the mission of the hospital is to provide health care, not to police legal status, Silver noted.
“Some people say: ‘Deport everybody.’ Well, we’re not in the business of deporting. We’re health care people. We take care of people. We’re not in law enforcement; that’s not our role.”
Silver said the hospital did collect roughly $1.2 million on bills charged to people who did not provide UMC with Social Security numbers. The hospital wrangled payments from an emergency Medicaid fund. That avenue is now closed because the Legislature cannibalized that money to shore up the state budget this year.
Sisolak said the UMC report is another puzzle piece for commissioners to consider as they try to figure out how to collect on bills. Commissioners learned this year the hospital was only able to collect about 0.6 percent of past-due billings totaling $459 million.
Unpaid medical care is a growing problem. The actual cost of that care in fiscal 2009 was $204 million, up from $160 million in fiscal 2008 and $146 million in fiscal 2007.
To attack those unpaid bills, Sisolak is considering a variety of ideas. For starters, he wants the county to look at working with Metro Police and federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, about verifying patients’ status after they’ve received medical care.
If a patient is later deported, whatever slim chance of collecting money from him will certainly be gone, but at least that person isn’t likely to rack up more bills at UMC, Sisolak said.
“I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m not afraid to ask the questions,” he said. “If it’s politically incorrect, I guess I’m stepping on myself. But we need to get a handle on this.”
He said he knows that “we can’t refuse service. We can’t ask if someone is a citizen. But that’s an awful lot of money ... The county simply cannot afford to keep providing non-life-or-death medical care to people who are not citizens.”
County Commission Chairman Rory Reid agrees with Sisolak that “county taxpayers just can’t keep bearing this burden,” but the son of the Senate majority leader also said this is ultimately an issue that will require a federal solution.
Silver agreed, noting that a federal mandate dictates that hospitals don’t ask for proof of citizenship. The 1985 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act was enacted to prevent what was seen as a growing problem: hospitals refusing emergency medical treatment to those with no ability to pay.
The law also allows aggrieved patients to file civil lawsuits.
Silver also warned of a potential public health risk of bringing in immigration officials. What if someone with a contagious illness, such as swine flu, decides against emergency care out of fear of being deported?
“If people get the impression we’re going to have ICE in the emergency room, that’s a barrier,” she said.
The hospital’s financial future will depend largely upon changes the federal government makes to the health insurance industry. Silver said that whatever plan is enacted, she hopes the federal government doesn’t try to pay for it by gutting existing funding that offsets uninsured patient costs.
“Because no matter how many more people get health insurance, there will still be those who don’t have it,” she said.
And though the idea isn’t popular in the nation’s capital and has been ruled out by President Barack Obama, allowing illegal immigrants to buy into a plan might be an improvement, Silver said. At least that way “they would have insurance, they would be making payments.”
Discussion: 64 comments so far…
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How many of our problems all point to the federal governments refusal to seal the border and deport those here illegally?
We have 12% unemployment and 12% of our workforce is illegal. We have drugs and violence directly attributed to the border.
We have kidnappings and extortion. All of our problems are not from illegal immigration but it would be a lot less without them.
what aspirin on the planet costs $3...
and you charge $10...
and our stupid pathetic republican friends think we don't need health care reform!!!
A good health plan for this country is that the federal government pays for all our needs. If there isn't enough money to pay for it they could borrow from the Chinese.
And just think about it this is only just 1 hospital in the United States. What i would like to know is how many of those people walk into the emergency room not having a life threatening issue. And then walk out on there own two feet that very same day. The American people were sold out by Corporate America and the United States Federal Government a long time ago. What i also would like to know is why the majority of the countrys in this world today in the year 2009 are still 3rd world societies.
The sad reality is that our elected officials will not do anything to stop this problem. They will use this, the medical issue, as one of the reasons to push for immigration reform, telling the country that if we make these immigrants citizens, our government can then pay for their medical treatment. In the long run it will eventualy be paid for by our citizens. One way or the other it is our governments fault that 12% of our workforce is illegal, and we have 12% of our citizens unemployed.
Support MORE illegals-diversity is our strenghth.
Reid For Senate
Reid For Governor
Just raise taxes. Dear Leader says we are not giving enough anyway, and that each of us can afford to pay just a little bit more.
I know there are citizens without jobs and those that must take a pay cut, but think of the peace of mind all these illegals have as a result of your generosity! Doesn't that alone make the sacrifice worth it?
Plus, these people pay sales and properrty taxes! Of course, all the other money gets sent home to the place of their true loyalty, instead of being put back into the domestic economy, but why quibble?
Finally, don't forget to thank Harry Reid for killing eVerify. I certainly plan to come 2010.
When I worked for a local doctor here, we had a policy (apparently it was perfectly legal by the way) that if the patient did not provide a SSN then you would not be seen. Since I have left that facility, the doctor now requires not only your SSN but a credit card number as well. Reason: just in case the insurance company does not pay in a a timely manner or if the insurance company does not pay in full. I suggest that the CEO change their lawyers. Also, while I was working there, those that protested the most about the SSN policy where middle aged white males.
Enough is Enough! I'm tired of my husband working his A.. off and us struggling and why. Because we are expected to pay for all the services that go to the ILLEGALS. Enough is Enough!
Eddie is correct. At least Commissioner Sisolak and now Commissioner Reid agree that the county cannot continue to subsidize UMC to continue to cover undocumented immigrants; They are both showing leadership on this issue. I only hope that other elected officials start to get a clue and follow their leadership and the example they are setting. Keep fighting for the taxpayers of Clark County.
Maybe we should treat illegals exactly the way Mexico treats its own illegal aliens.
I imagine UMC's problems are being experienced by hospitals countrywide. I hope they are not waiting for national health care to come to the rescue. NHC faces a 'long and winding road.'
The sad reality is that our elected officials will not do anything to stop this problem.
This is the bottom line. they are NOT listening to thepeople who voted them in. And also the hospitals by not having a checks and balance system to weed out the scammers and abusers.
birdie
you'v obviously never been a patient in a hospital or had to look over a bill from some one who has. The discrepancies are large and if you catch them, the insurance company thanks you because they know that hospital bills are always "padded' so they can take care of the illegals and those who scam the system.
Provide the treatment in the ER, that's the humane thing to do. then verify if they are legal. if not, then make arrangements with family, friends and their own government to take them back. May cost money to send them back, bvut in the long run will save millions of dollars on our end.
This is a real problem across the nation. Keep in mind that the cost is an inflated representation of the true collective debt. In healthcare there is a crazy priceing structure that basically "charges" a full rack rate for uninsured patients but charges less thatn 50% of the full fair to large consumer groups. One of the things that has not been addressed by health care reform bills. I agree that here in the US we don't let sick or injured suffer in fact EMTALA is intended to prevent this and in the case of drop in deliveries and true emergencies it does a good job. But there is the rub. Can't just apply services in the ER and street them. If a patient is in active labor or acutely injured they end up admitted and it is there the cost goes up. So the solution exisits in not allowing undocumented folks in the country. But... where is the solution to those that are legal and do not pay their bills? REFORM. If all legal citizens have affordable health care coverage the burden on safety net hospitals like UMC would be greatly reduced.
Det_Munch has a good point. Treat them in the ER. If they pay or have insurance, no problem.
If the illegals don't pay, make arrangements with their home country for payment. If the contry refuses, you send them back by med-evac. If the country refuses to take them, bring them back and impose tariffs or reduce to the country's aid.
There is nothing wrong with having their home country pay for the care of their citizens.
Birdie - the reason the aspirin costs $3.00 is due to many reasons: 1. A pharmacist needs to dispense it so the hospital does not get sued, 2. someone needs to take it to the patient and make sure they take it and that person needs to get paid as well, and they have to be a licensed so the hospital does not get sued 3. someone in purchasing needs to order that bottle of aspirin so the pharmacist has it in stock, and they need to get paid, 4. on and on. First, we need some malpractice reform so we are not all paying the insurance costs for all these people who work in the medical field. We need to treat the critically ill or injured at once, but the others can be refered to local clinics ( kind of what Michelle Obama proposed to the hospital she worked at in Chicago so they could improve their bottom line ). Kind of like gov't telling you what they will treat and when and what they won't cover. Or, like the dems are proposing, we can all pay so everyone can get covered and then they can sue the socks off of the person and facility that treated them. We need reforms both in the legal system to lower medical malpractice costs and reforms in the medical system so we are not paying for illegals. I know, illegals are not covered in the health care bill, but unless the law is changed, the medical facilities are still obligated to treat them, so how is that not being covered?
Mr. Sisolak, You are very right. You are doing a great job. Ask the questions and demand deportation.
Biride do you have any grounding in reality or are you so dogmatic you can't see beyond your own insipid Marxist theology?
Thanks George Bush and John McCain for allowing the tax payers of Clark County to pay for your failed immigration plan and for not protecting America's borders.
Hospitals are legally & morally obligated to provide emergency treatment. Any hospital that denies treatment and then is unlucky enough to have the patient die on their doorstep will have have more s**t dumped on them then they can imagine.
And Americans will never allow mass roundups & deportations of illegals. One photo of a bunch of women & children being loaded up on a bus to be deported, or stories of Americanized children with no memory of the "home country" suddenty finding themselves dumped into it (or worse), and the public will be demanding some official's head on a pike (so to speak).
If we're serious about controlling our own borders and the flow of illegals:
- We need to REALLY secure them first. Something neither party has tried to do. Change the Guard's primary mission to Homeland Security & Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Assistance, augmenting ICE, BP and the USCG -- then deploy them to the border & ports of entry for a year. Armed.
- Implement "Real ID", eVerify, and a system of employer verification with real penalties for those who hire illegals.
- Compel local law enforcement to turnover any illegal convicted of a felony or violent misdemeanor to ICE for deportation.
- Finally, we can talk about how best to assimilate the millions already here. Maybe a non-renewable five year work visa, after which they can obtain a green card provided they pass an english language exam AND stay out of trouble with the law.
We don't need more studies or analysis. Congress & the White House (both parties) have stalled and dithered long enough while the overall burden has only gotten worse. It's time for Congress to act -- or find new jobs in 2010.
We need reform now. Anyone without insureance should be investigated by ICE to determine if they are here illegally and shipped back to their homeland until they choose to immigrate legally.
I can't help but wonder if our problem is with the Mexican government rather than the poorest of poor citizens of that country? After all, they are encouraged to cross the borders and to send money back home. Isn't the American dollar a huge part of the Mexican economy? Why not send Mexico the bill and, if they don't pay, cut off access by Americans to their resorts and other tour destinations as we do with Cuba? Gee........that sounds like a boycott, to me.
If I go to the ER and pay my co-pay, my insurance company better be covering the rest. Any bill that comes to my house from the hospital asking for more money gets thrown in the trash. I pay enough to my insurance so that they can cover the bill. Screw the 80/20 crap.
How many illegal aliens and their dependents does UMC treat daily?
Want this to continue well into the future? Then, my friends support the Chamber of Commerce and its sponsoring businesses and make sure you vote for Sue Lowden if she runs for US Senator as a Republican.
This is what I don't get - all the Republicans (including Joe Wilson) don't want the taxpayers to foot the bill for illegals getting medical care. Guess what, YOU ARE NOW! Through subsidies to UMC and paying $10 for that aspirin.
The only solution is to send them home or give them amnesty so they can at least pay taxes. The Republicans had 6 years where they had control of the WH and Congress and they couldn't get it done. At least with the Democrats you know you probably wont see much movement on this issue, but Republicans will campaign on it and then never do anything about it.
Neither our Democratic or Republican Congressmen are going to do anything with illegal immigration unless those of us in the middle start holding our elected officials accountable.
The Governor should send a bill to the Federal Government for 114.3 million for reimbursement for unpaid medical expenses due to illegal immigrants.
One of the Federal Governments primary responsibility to it's citizen is to defend it's borders. It does not matter what reasoning they give, they have failed...
Does anyone know who really pays the bills to the hospital? Is it local, federal, or shared?
Patronize and support the Chamber of Commerce sponsoring businesses. This organization is the principle culprit behind the desire to allow cheap, illegal labor into this country. They are the true traitors to America and our working class ....they are turning us into a third world nation.
If they can kill unions and labor laws they will have us all working for a cup of coffee and a donut a day. We are in a DEPRESSION and headed for worse times yet because of the influx of cheap illegal labor. They balk at, and work diligently to defeat any kind of legislation against illegal immigration and related laws.
The problem is not Democrat Party alone because the Republicans are also principle conspirators in this whole mess. Cheap labor for them means higher profits. Little or no medical care, benefits and retirement means more money for them.
It is time to invest in hemp rope. We have plenty of telephone and light poles when it comes time to hang the responsible parties....
In Europe the governments fear the people. It is time that those in our government began to fear the people... WE can institute term limits at the ballot box, we don't need legislation or court rulings for this one. Vote them all out at each succeeding local, state and national election.
You mean illegal immigrants who aren't paying the bill... stop being so PC with the "patients with no Social Security #" title.
hey gibbie the clown...
first of all...
you must realize that i am brilliant...
period...
end of story...
secondly...
i am grounded by an exceedingly large amount of common sense...
you see skippy...
when i can go to cvs and buy a whole bottle of aspirin for $3...
and some hospital clown says a single aspirin costs him $3...
and this hospital clown says the hospital has to charge $10 for a single aspirin...
i know the system is broken...
fatally broken...
period...
end of story...
quite frankly...
it is truly sad that you just don't have the mental capacity to comprehend that...
poor fellow...
i'll tell you what else is sad...
the stupid pathetic republican party and their lies and fear mongering have made it hard for the average american to even hear the outrageous story of the dear little aspirin...
who the hell would want to join the stupid pathetic republican party these days!!!
Sue Lowden? Are you kidding? The only two politicians that I see mentioned in the article and who are fighting to do something are County Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Rory Reid. Maybe some folks don't like that they are democrats, but they are doing the right thing and should be recognized for doing so.
The real question is, where are all of our other elected officials and where do they stand?
"The markup, hospital spokesman Rick Plummer said, is one way to help offset the costs of nonpaying patients. It may only cost $3 for that aspirin, but we have to charge $10 because the guy next to you isn't paying," he said.
Pretty much summarizes why healthcare is unaffordable.
Ironically, casinos also utilize the "refuse to pay" excuse upon patrons not providing them with tax identification numbers following jackpot wins of $1,200 or more -- without remorse or legal recourse.
: )
Why not just rescind Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act ?
Anyone without insureance should be investigated by ICE to determine if they are here illegally and shipped back to their homeland until they choose to immigrate legally
Idon't think it would be that easy since many AMERICANS are without insurance. So how do you weed out the ones who are legal and those who are not with out blatantly refusing treatment to those in one ethnic group and not the other? Say John Smith goes to the ER and has no insurance and so does Miguel Garcia who also has no insurance. But both men are Americans, born and raised. Do you treat Mr. Smith and not Mr. Garcia based on his name alone? Or do you refuse BOTH of them because niether has insurance?
Hey Munch:
Treat both Garcia and Smith.
If either one can not furnish social security number and sufficient Identification to determine citizen or legal status, phone ICE to verify status on their computer systems.
If ICE can not determine status or if either one is not in status, ICE should respond and interview subject and go from there...
Ecm:
It depends on the patient.
If the patient is uninsured then, for the most part, the share holders of private hospitals and the doctors who treat them eat the bills. Ask yourself how much money that is and who is going to pay after reform.
Medicare is federal and Medicaid is a blend of federal and state and is administered state by state. Another big problem is that if you have California Medicaid and you end up in a Las Vegas hospital the hospital has to fight for the money and the doctors get stiffed by California.
Finally, private insurance pays the hospital on contracted rates that are negotiated before the first insured patient is signed up.
Hope that helps.
Social security numbers? We don't need no stinking social security numbers! One of our paisanos discovered this utopian valley!
Rory Reid looks like an extra in the C horror movie, "Revenge of the Inbred Vampire Politicians from Searchlight." There definitely is something amiss with Rory's protoplasm. Is there any evidence of cloning or other forms of genetic alteration?
Birdiegmag: our friends south of the border would cook you into birdiasada. However, your revenge inevitably would come within 24 hours. The stench would be historic!
LarryV
that would be the right way to do it, but I was answering vc's post where he says if anyone doesn't have insurance, ICE should be called. If anyone without insurance CAN provide an ORIGINAL social security card and/or the right ID, then yes, they should be treated. maybe someone should be on the staff that can spot fake id's of any kind. But if they don't have either - treat the problem that brought them in there, give them one free night on the house and then show them the door with a bag of $3 Tylenols and a bus ticket home.
Munch,
It cost University Medical Center $114.3 million last year. You would think they could afford to hire someone to verify the immigration status of those who are not citizens and have no health insurance.
i always thought illegal was supposed to be a bad thing, but we all know that this is the land of free handouts for illegal aliens (on our dime). that's a big part of the reason they're here; to have their babies on our soil.
They should tax the industries that tend to hire illegals..landscaping, construction, hotel services, farming...to pay for all this illegal drain on government services like health care, prisons, education....
The businesses can waive paying the tax if they demostrate that they use an identification verification service that proves that person X is person X with the proper birth certificate and SSN number or holder of a worker visa. Many businesses already do background checks.
Comment removed by staff.
Come on. Get the DR. Lic. and also have the person who brought them in also have to sign and then a passport type photograph to be posted in The Las Vegas Sun Sunday Edition if the bills are not being paid. After 90 days the photo in the Sun gets enlarged. They must be treated no matter what or else we become the Hitlers we destroyed. Lets face it, one of the reasons we are a great country is because of things like this, not being Hitlers.
Wake up America and you all wonder why we're going broke. Illegal immigrants to employers are cheap labor and we're paying the bills to line their greedy wallets.
As you drive around and you see the illegal immigrants working, stop and empty your pocket book, it will a lot less painful than the present system the Democrats force feed down our throats.
By deporting all illegal aliens from Nevada will the money-losing UMC hospital be saved. It's the hospital's only hope.
Are you serious? This is a simple problem to fix. If your lossing that much money, invest in a "collections" dept. If a client comes in with no SS number, demand a drivers license. If they don't have a SSN OR a Driver license, then you deny them service. Simple as that.
If they have a SSN you can go after them easy. If they have a DRIVERS LICENSE then you send your collections goons to there house and collect.
Not that fricken difficult people, especially when you are loosing that much money, you can invest heavily in a collection force to take it.
It's quite sad when the political vermin would rather garner a vote than save the country.
I like the Hendersonfamily's response and maybe add "bill the country of origin".
The last politian with any balls was Eisenhower.
Google what he did with "Operation Wetback".
Birdie, If your so brilliant, why don't you get a job and pay taxes instead of blogging all day.
I say we give all them Illegal, undocumented or Democratic patients a 45 caliber enema!
45's are too expensive!
If you deport all the illegal aliens the hospitals will no longer have any nurses left. Except for the 'token' ones they put up front to fool the public.
My mother was charged $72 for "sanitary napkins"
when she received her itemized bill. She called them to let them know she had a hysterectomy 20 years ago. A simple "clerical mistake" she was told.
Put a tax on menudo and boxes of lard to pay for this. Sandoval should be asked his opinion on his amigos running up the tab.
Keep in mind that it is not only illegals that don't have legit social security numbers. When you fill out any legal form, you are asked for your ID. That ID does not always have the correct address on it. You are asked for your social security number. OK...write down some numbers. It'll go through. Next of kin? Oh, that is so and so and they live at such and such an address. Guess what? That address is an empty lot. And the name? Made up! Phone number? A cell that is no longer in service. Credit cards as security? Most of them are maxed out or are simply a debit card with Visa or Mastercard logo. There are just as many individuals that give false information as there are illegals. I know, I was a skip tracer. What does a social security number prove? Not much when it's fake/made up. There are the smart ones that know, if for instance, you got your social security card in say, Iowa, it will begin with 481. Next time you are filling out that credit application, or that form in the doctor's office or emergency room, think about the questions. How can it be proven that what you have entered on those lines is true?
Tell this to the dumbacrats that think this is ok. Tell Obamacare.
No SSN, no driver license, no ID at all. Take picture, fingerprints, and blood for DNA. Those who refuse are not obliged to receive services from UMC. Those who do, their data is turned over to Metro and ICE. These steps would allow for people to get treatment who may be temporarily without ID. For example, a jogger who passed out, an injury at Lake Mead while wearing just a swimsuit, etc. Do something for the fiscal health of our County, State, Country, and do it now.
Mr. Sisolak:
That number was a little over one billion in Texas in 2006, the amount taxpayers footed for unpaid illegal healthcare expense. California Governor Schwartzenegger will have a larger number for you.
These unpaid healthcare bills create fodder for negative American complaints, rightfully so. Likewise, our third war on the border and gang activity cast a dark shadow.
However, the math supports illegal contributions to this country as net positive. Second, with healthcare retail cost markups, how can an individual-family without coverage, certainly without citizenship, negotiate a reasonable healthcare bill for themselves (?)
Certainly an American on assignment or visiting another country who required immediate healthcare attention, from something small but necessary, to something big like an automobile accident or person to person crime, would want that foreign country to provide reasonable access and care, even if their insurance coverage did not travel overseas. It's humanity.
Over 600,000 Americans traveled abroad last year BY CHOICE for healthcare that was much cheaper and just as good, or better, than USA. They went to places like India, Philippines, and yes, Mexico. It is estimated that in only five years about 9 million Americans will travel out of the country for a better healthcare deal abroad.
These are Americans going abroad with the means to find out about, verify and travel to a better deal. Not immigrants.
So, we must move beyond the question of "patient status" to the REAL ISSUES of:
(a) access
(b) quality
(c) affordability, or cost structure, to arrive at
(z) the best system for everyone, at the best price
Insurance companies are spending a lot of money pushing for universal healthcare reform outcomes which (1) federally mandate more paying customers, and (2) no public option, meaning no real assurances costs will not continue upward.
We rank 34th in the world in healthcare, yet pay much more per capital than allies. We have trends for going abroad.
This generation of Congressional representation, maybe as a majority, is more interested in making bed-bank with Big Health and Big Pharma, some also fearful of the detached, rural majority voting constituencies they represent back home. Make no mistake, two words at the wrong time from one South Carolina Representative put him closer to a lucrative book deal.
We have small rural state reps tying up answers for economies like California and New York.
But we need steps to make the American economy more competitive in the future, by freeing American companies' capital and expertise from the need for employer-based healthcare.
Senator Reid has a good grasp of the healthcare debate, and the needed solutions. Mr. Sisolak, you are to be commended for working your way towards the right answers here in Nevada in a public way, by getting out the measuring stick and asking the questions that count most.
Few people are in support of including illegal immigrants into a healthcare reform bill. But, it's a red herring. Real reform or not, they will not be denied needed care at providers such as UMC. Taxpayers, specifically state and local taxation, have been fronting the cost for decades, along with accounts for unpaid debt eventually written o and will continue to do so.
Do we have an effective control system for illegal immigration? No, and that is another issue, an issue that will become more important as drug suppliers continue to contract sellers and muscle inside the US.
But a federally funded solution and subsequent enforcement which Americans rant for is not cost-effective to taxpayers. Governor Rick Perry in Texas is already getting pre-election heat for spending taxpayer money on border survelliance cameras that work real good, except they need a few thousand more to have any effect!
Here's the solution. When Americans stop buying and using cocaine, when we stop selling arms to drug cartels for lucrative profits, then many of the border problems will stop.
All costs, all taxation, trickle down in the economy food chain to the person at the bottom. So, the person on the bottom needs to wisen up in this country. Waving the flag has nothing to do with facts and solutions, all of us can wave a flag and understand the importance of country.
Progressive legislation now will move the ball forward towards more long term solutions, i.e. a single payer system down the road, which we are currently not prepared for, and the trend for even more regressive healthcare cost structure in this country, which only leads to more expensive long term healthcare costs per capita, costs some of which can be stamped out in ten years.
This is proof that there should be the public option. For just $50 a month, people could get the healthcare they need before ended up in the emergency ward at our only county hospital. They could instead flood all the UMC Quick Cares. Take that same $50 from Unemployment & Welfare, do the public some good instead of people misusing the tax-payers funds on name brand sneakers & plasma TVs. I have friends on Welfare that have such things and live in a great homes in Summerlin & Southern Highlands while being on Section 8 Housing.
Its not just "undocumented" citizens. These low skilled people here are bankcrupting the state.
No Public Option will continue the madness.
Undocumented citizens! Does the definition for oxymoron ring a bell for you there Nick? I think what you should have used was "illegal alien" as to not confuse anyone, Including yourself.