I said I thought the report as presented by the orignal poster was total crap - here is how it was presented:
Message 21543050
Legal and illegal immigrants, and their children, may skip preventive care, according to the researchers. This may mean that immigration isn't a factor in rising U.S. health-care costs, the researchers said. U.S. medical expenses rose an estimated 7.5 percent last year, to $1.8 trillion, according to the U.S. government.
``We constantly hear anti-immigrant extremists, elected officials and media commentators making baseless claims about how immigrants are contributing to our nation's high health-care costs,'' U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force said in an e-mailed statement. ``This comprehensive new study shows just how unfounded these allegations are.''
To which I responded:
I think that report is total crap - they plop into our emergency rooms for the most expensive care of all because they don't do preventative maintenance. This was the part Real Mulan did not include.
``A lot of places aren't friendly to immigrants,'' he said. ``They have a lack of interpreters, and many times they feel unwelcome and intimidated by the system.''
These barriers can lead to immigrants seeking health-care only until illness has significantly advanced, the authors all agreed. Steffie Woolhandler, a study co-author and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, said that she has seen cases where immigrants have delayed medical attention.
``They're waiting until they're desperately ill to go to the hospital,'' she said.
Now too early - you say you are in this profession - from just that first paragraph posted by Mulan I read that people are taking the pound of cure because they are not doing the ounce of prevention - which one is cheaper? I have always believed an ounce of prevention cheaper - to read futher was not necessarily I feel after that was establish.
I am making an effort too early, this seems important to you to keep coming back to it so I will give you that respect - but each time I respond I pose questions and you dismiss them. If that is all you want to do, I capitulate, it is late and I am tired - can you give a little - answer some of the questions I have asked in previous posts or will you not do so?
forbes.com
Dr. Sara Mohanty - what can you illuminate about this person?
The surveys didn't ask questions about immigration status, however, and Mohanty said it's possible they may have missed some undocumented immigrants who were too afraid to answer questions.
Researchers also found that immigrant children were less likely than other kids to visit doctor's offices or take prescription medicines. On the other hand, the children of immigrants ended up consuming more in terms of higher emergency room costs, compared to the children of native-born Americans. This was left out of the pro hispanic immigrant bloomberg version that mulan posted and supports my original claim
Immigrant families often turn to emergency care because many "aren't aware of what's available in terms of preventive services, or they don't have access to them because of [lack of] insurance or income," Mohanty said. "There also may be fears about being undocumented."
cms.hhs.gov
You will have to try harder if you want to sway my beliefs than a bloomberg report posted by mulan - another immigrant I think - that the recent influx post 1998 is really GOOD and not costly at all.
Some immigration experts, however, said that tracking per capita spending ignores the larger societal costs of a growing immigrant population that is far less likely to have health insurance.
"The fact that immigrants, when uninsured, might use 27 percent less medical care doesn't change the fact that they're 200 percent more likely to be uninsured in the first place," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors strict controls on immigration. "Why have a system that allows in so many people who aren't self-sufficient?"
Immigrants account for 18 percent of the costs associated with the uninsured -- expenses likely to be borne by taxpayers and charities, Camarota said.
Both sides said financial, cultural and language differences all make it hard for immigrants to afford care, understand medical advice or embrace recommendations from American doctors and nurses.
A much higher percentage of adult immigrants lack a high school education, which makes it difficult for them to navigate the health care system, said Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association.
"They don't understand the lingo," such as what a cholesterol reading signifies, she said. "Because of limited education levels, you can't connect the dots and think about what prevention like physical exercise means in terms of the future and things like heart disease and cancer."
Immigrants often live in low-income neighborhoods with fewer hospitals, clinics, physicians and pharmacies, she said. And many Latin Americans, coming from countries with government-run health systems, are unfamiliar with the concept of buying insurance.
In addition, many immigrants do not qualify for government health programs that are targeted at specific groups such as retirees, American Indians and veterans, Camarota said.
Over the long term, Himmelstein said, the potential ramifications for children are most alarming. The data showed immigrant children had fewer doctor visits, took less medication and made fewer trips to the emergency room. But their emergency room costs were nearly triple those for non-immigrant children, suggesting that immigrant families missed routine checkups and waited until a condition was more serious before seeking treatment, Himmelstein said.
It is far more likely, he said, that immigrant children do not receive standard vaccinations and let chronic problems such as asthma go untreated.
Even better-educated, insured immigrants -- and U.S.-born minorities -- received less care, probably because of racism and cultural differences, Mohanty said.
The paper's authors, who are active in the liberal Physicians for a National Health Program, said one solution would be to provide everyone with basic health coverage. Short of that, they advocated lifting restrictions on government health programs and easing entry into employer-provided health plans.
Camarota, who agreed that legal immigrants should have greater access to care, said lawmakers need to take a more critical look at who is allowed into the United States. He said, "The solution to the problem is make them go home or not let them in in the first place."
washingtonpost.com
Washington post takes same study - advances different political agenda and pulls out different facts it wishes to illuminate |
