Rule Limits Emergency Care for Immigrants (No Chemotherapy)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

The federal government has told New York State health officials that chemotherapy, which had been covered for illegal immigrants under a government-financed program for emergency medical care, does not qualify for coverage. The decision sets the stage for a battle between the state and federal governments over how medical emergencies are defined.

The change comes amid a fierce national debate on providing medical care to immigrants, with New York State officials and critics saying this latest move is one more indication of the Bush administration’s efforts to exclude the uninsured from public health services.

State officials in New York and other states have found themselves caught in the middle. The New York dispute, focusing on illegal immigrants with cancer — a marginal group of unknown size among the more than 500,000 people living in New York illegally — has become a flash point for health officials and advocates for immigrants in recent weeks.

Under a limited provision of Medicaid, the national health program for the poor, the federal government permits emergency coverage for illegal immigrants and other noncitizens. But the Bush administration has been more closely scrutinizing and increasingly denying state claims for federal payment for some emergency services, Medicaid experts said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/washington/22emergenc...

[robinlynne]

1. well I sure as hell can't get free chemotherapy in spite of 49 years of paying taxes....

[happyslug]

4. Yes you can, if you have the income and Assets of 10% of the population.

In my County that means less than $2000 in Assets and your Income is less than $174 a month OR if your medical bills are so high that you are left with less than $174 a month.

[OzarkDem]

8. Not always

those deals are only offered by providers who are part of the state's "uncompensated care" type of program, usually a large public hospital or clinic affiliated with one.

If you live in a rural area, where most oncology care is provided in outpatient oncology practices not linked to the state's system, you get no care regardless of income level.

We see dozens of patients getting turned away from these practices every month. Their only option is to pay cash up front for treatment or travel hundreds of miles to a big city hospital.

[Honeycombe8]

15. I don't think chemotherapy is considered "med. emergency" care in my area.....

So even if I went to an E.R., they wouldn't give me chemotherapy for free, even if I qualified. As far as I know.

Now, if New York taxpayers want to foot the bill and pay for that, that's their business, I guess.

[madrchsod]

2. maybe the federal government can at least provide them

transportation to die in their home country . otherwise we will have provide a space to bury them and that`s a lot more than a bus ticket....

[Skip Intro]

3. Talk to me some more about the sanctity of life, you effin' hypocritical pukes.

God, these people make me sick.

[budibudinski]

5. Haven't had health care for about 7 yrs. Can't afford the premiums

and can't afford to see a dr for basic stuff much less chemo treatment if I ever need that.

No where have I found assistance with my health care. Not old enough for Medicare, and not disabled enough for SS help. No kids youngenough for medicaid so that leaves me to fend for myself.
Join the club ..illegal or legal, doesn't matter in this country..you have to have MONEY & LOTS OF IT.
Don't you know this about the United States? No One fuckin cares if you cant afford health care and you die.
You're just one less person they can collect tax dollars from, but hopefuloly you've left behind a nice bunch of kids to garuntee the tax coffers will continue to be filled.

Citizens don't even qualify for such luxury as chemo most of the time..Why should illegals be any different.

Its reality of life and death in the USA.

not much sympathy from me either.
Maybe Canada would be a better country to go to..at least they have a general Health care system of some kind.

[OzarkDem]

9. People don't want to face it in the US

There's a real resistance among Americans to the idea that their fellow citizens can't get chemo or other lifesaving treatments when they're ill.

They also don't want to face the fact that many adults become homeless when they get sick and can't work for an extended period of time.

Its very true - there are many huge holes in the safety net, but average citizens and elected officials are in major denial about it.

[Honeycombe8]

16. You're in the group that has fallen thru the cracks. Not poor enough for Medicaid....

not rich enough to buy insurance.

Then there are all those who could afford regular premiums, but who are uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions.

Our healthcare system IS in a crisis situation. If our leaders in Congress would only get together and DO something about it.

No, the illegal immigrants don't have much sympathy from me, either. There are too many of our own citizens who are in medical crises for me to worry too much about the citizens of other countries. Not that I don't care. I do. But I care more about my countrymen's situation, and they have paid the dues of being a citizen. They deserve better.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

6. With Canada throwing out Mexican asylum seekers...

I guess it is our responsibility to cure them. This is a tough one. I am in favor of universal free heath care but truth be told that means twelve million people in the united states right now are probably going to have to leave for somewhere else.

We simply can't afford to give treatment to all illegal immigrants. And Europe and Canada are closing their doors as well. Perhaps we should help the Mexican and other(non-US and Canadian) American governments build additional hospitals so they can take care of their people on their own soil.

On an individual basis we are a very generous country. But if our goal is two provide heath care for every American citizen some others are simply going to have to be sacrificed.

[LeighAnn]

7. Statue of Bigotry

Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em
That's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death
and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

Lou Reed, Dirty Boulevard

[LanternWaste]

10. Absolutely. Pretty much two basic speeds on the issue...

Absolutely. There's pretty much two basic American speeds on the issue...

1. I have mine, so fuck all the rest of you.

and

2. If I can't have mine, fuck all the rest of you.

Two variations on good old fashioned American greed.

Non-sequiter: Lou Reed was voted the Coolest Guy on the Planet my Sr. year in HS...

[StrongBad]

11. Maybe I'm missing something

But if you're in this country illegally, why should you expect to get free cancer treatment when our broken system can't even help those who are citizens and pay taxes fairly?

Just seems a little backwards to me.

[OhioChick]

12. Good Point. n/t

[lligrd]

13. Yeah, We Should Always Ask For A Green Card Before

we help anybody. Isn't that what the Good Samaritan was all about?

[StrongBad]

14. Well, yeah we should verify legal status before treatment

If you as an American were to go to Canada in hopes of getting some free treatment of cancer or another similar disease, you're not going to get it and rightfully so since you are not a citizen of their country.

Does that mean Canadians are evil and greedy? No, just that they understand that health care, even though it is a right for all its citizens (and hopefully one day will be here), costs money to orchestrate and thus charges each of its citizens a premium to access said services in the form of taxes. If they spend more than they take in by treating those who don't pay in, the entire system could collapse and cause much more harm than good in the future.

Oh and by the way, your Good Samaritan analogy doesn't hold here, as we are talking about the actions and policy of nations and their tax revenue, rather than the individual to individual basis of acceptance, tolerance and compassion that is advocated in the parable.

[Honeycombe8]

18. There are only so many tax dollars to pay for free care. Every dollar that goes...

toward paying for free medical care for an illegal immigrant is a dollar that does not go toward paying for free medical care for our fellow citizens.

I feel sorry for them all, but my heart goes out to my fellow citizens, first. And that's where our duty lies.

If we tried to treat all the poor of all the nations, our country would collapse. Our healthcare system is already collapsing, as it is.

If the illegal immigrants are Mexican, shouldn't Mexico provide for their healthcare? Or Guadalupe? Or whatever their home country is? Or at least send us the money to provide the healthcare to their citizens who are here?

[Honeycombe8]

17. Well, they get free medical emergency care at the present time. But...

I think this argument has to do with teh definition of "emergency care." Apparently NY has been treating chemotherapy as "emergency care," and the fed. govt is now saying that it's not, and so they aren't entitled to it.

But I wonder why I'm paying for free care of any sort to people who are here illegally. I've worked hard all my life. I'm a citizen. I'm just a workin' gal. I have to pay a lot of taxes. I don't mind paying taxes for free medical care for my countrymen. But I should work hard and pay taxes for the millions of people who are here illegally? It's insane and unfair to me.

[CBHagman]

19. And here's Bush quoting U.N. declarations on human rights.

Bush quoted DIRECTLY from the reference to a right to medical care, and here he is bad-mouthing employer-provided plans, insisting people should have to shop for care (Which oncologist is cheaper?), and threatening to veto SCHIP unless Congress plays by his rules. And he frames it all as an issue of fairness.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Since other countries have so much better health care systems than us, wouldn't it make sense for th...

to go back there and get the treatment?