Illegal Immigrant Dialysis Proves Costly To Hospitals, System

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The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that dialysis care for illegal immigrants at a taxpayer-supported medical center costs $20 million a year and that the immigrants are being referred there from for-profit hospitals.

"Under federal law, anyone who shows up at an emergency room requesting an examination or treatment for a medical condition must be given an appropriate medical screening to determine whether there is an emergency. If there is, treatment must be provided regardless of a patient's ability to pay or their citizenship. … U.S. citizens with end stage renal disease automatically qualify for Medicare to cover dialysis costs. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicare. As a result, patients who have neither insurance nor Medicare to pay for dialysis are almost exclusively illegal immigrants, a distinction that allows hospital officials to estimate costs for their care."

Each emergency dialysis visit is estimated to cost the University Medical Center - where the immigrants are getting care - $15,000, and officials say it is forcing them to lay workers off since they cannot recoup much of the expense (Harasim, 8/20).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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