Illegal Immigrants not a burden to health care?

Yeah, let's blame all our problems on illegal immigrants.

They are here because many Americans want them here-- from small farmers to businesses. It is not all businesses fault either. There are many of us normal Americans who think that the US should treat human beings who are here with compassion.

The point of the article is that there are 46 million uninsured Americans. Blaming the healthcare crisis on the illegal immigrants (some of who are insured) is stupid.

Even more stupid is the fact that the best way to cut the cost of health care is to increase the amount of preventative care. People, immigrants or no, who have access to decent health care make far fewer expensive ER visits.

The Anti-Immigrant yahoos in this country aren't very smart.

Yeah, let's blame all our problems on illegal immigrants.

They are here because many Americans want them here-- from small farmers to businesses. It is not all businesses fault either. There are many of us normal Americans who think that the US should treat human beings who are here with compassion.

The point of the article is that there are 46 million uninsured Americans. Blaming the healthcare crisis on the illegal immigrants (some of who are insured) is stupid.

Even more stupid is the fact that the best way to cut the cost of health care is to increase the amount of preventative care. People, immigrants or no, who have access to decent health care make far fewer expensive ER visits.

The Anti-Immigrant yahoos in this country aren't very smart.

My primary interest in the immigration debate is that all people living in the US are treated with dignity and compassion. I think this is especially important since these immigrants are participating in and contributing to US society and economy. But to me the primary issue is compassion.

We need a solution to the immigration issue that is both smart and compassionate.

The economic impact of immigrants is an important issue to many. As the article that started this thread points out, immigration is not one of the biggest parts of our national health care crisis.

In general the healthcare crisis (rising costs 46 million Americans uninsured) and the immigration argument should be treated separately.

Refusing preventative healthcare to people until they get critically ill is not smart. Treating disease early is very cheap, treating disease when it becomes critical is very expensive.

There is also the issue of public health. You don't want people without healthcare walking around with a communicable disease that a relatively cheap shot can cure. If a portion of a society can't get health care it makes everyone less healthy. Now this is a national security issue since in a biological terrorist attack-- people with access to healthcare will report for help quickly and will greatly lessen the spread.

If we magically kicked out all undocumented immigrants tomorrow, it wouldn't have much impact on our healthcare system. It may even hurt our public health since some areas, especially long term care, benefit from labor provided by undocumented immigrants.

To fix healthcare we need a way to make sure that everyone who lives and works in the US has access to decent, affordable care. Providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants working here so they can keep from being mistreated and have more opportunities to better themselves is a step in the right direction. Some "illegal" immigrants insure themselves right now. Obviously the more people who can do this, the better it is for the healthcare system.

Bashing illegal immigrants is very fashionable with conservatives right now. But usually the rhetoric coming from the right makes no sense.

how do you explain border towns having to close down hospitals because they couldn't afford to stay open?

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how do you explain border towns having to close down hospitals because they couldn't afford to stay open?

We have a failing health care system; with 46 million uninsured and costs rising annually at a rate far greater than inflation. Hospitals are fleeing many lower income locations.

This is a real problem when you think of the possibility of terrorist attack or natural disaster. We are losing hospital beds accross the country and in a large-scale emergency this will be a disaster.

The fact that there are so many uninsured people is a drain on hospitals. As I pointed out before, emergency room care for problems that could have been treated for much less money with basic preventitive care is a great waste of money.

We need to fix health care. This has very little to do with the immigration issue.

If we are serious about fixing our health care system it will help all hospitals (including the "border" ones you cite). Coming up with a comprehensive solution to immigration that includes a path to citizenship would be a good thing as well.

xpeectant mothers in a border town across from Brownsville, Tx on the Mexican side goes into labor, they call for an ambulance that then takes the woman to an ER in the US

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xpeectant mothers in a border town across from Brownsville, Tx on the Mexican side goes into labor, they call for an ambulance that then takes the woman to an ER in the US

This sounds like an exaggeration typical of conservative immigrant bashing. Are you saying this happens all the time (i.e. there are no babies born in this "town"), or that it happened once? Can you even provide credible evidence that this even happened once?

I did a quick google search and came up with nothing credible.