How much do we spen on health care for illegal immigrants right now?

[AncientAtBirth666]

Can anyone get some stats?

[MountainLaurel]

1. Here's one source

http://nilc.org/immspbs/health/costs-less-than-citz-2009-05-26.pdf

[trayfoot]

17. Very interesting AND helpful info ammunition! Thanks!

[Xipe Totec]

19. Those stats are for immigrants, not illegal immigrants

I hope we're not blurring the line here.

[MountainLaurel]

26. True

But the effect is probably even more pronounced among the undocumented, who are generally terrified of contact with any authority figure.

[Xipe Totec]

28. No doubt about it.

I am just very concerned by the more frequent use of immigrant and illegal immigrant as interchangeable terms.

I have a basic objection to the term illegal immigrant to begin with, but that's another topic.

[Lance_Boyle]

34. I agree that the terms should not be used interchangeably

which is why I prefer the term "illegal alien" to "illegal immigrant" in describing those who reside in this country illegally. Immigration is a good thing. Associating it with illegal aliens tarnishes it.

[cliffordu]

2. you COULD google the fuck out of it.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cleita]

5. How much do the immigrants pay in taxes? I hope you factor those

stats in too, just to be fair and balanced. Immigrants pay payroll taxes that they will never get any benefit from and sales tax at the very least. I have worked in medical in the past with illegal immigrants and I never had one ever not pay in cash for treatment. However, since the last is ancedotal, may I suggest the Pew Hispanic Center website. They have a lot of information about this.

http://pewhispanic.org/

[supernova]

6. It's miniscule compared to spending on uninsured citizens

and citizens who are underinsured, i.e. those who don't know they don't have adequate insurance until they have a major surgery or chemotherapy,

Care more for your fellow citizens than you do hate immigrants. Then you will go along way toward improving your standing around here.


Welcome to DU! :hi:

[damntexdem]

7. Much less than they pay in Social Security and income taxes.

Money that they will never get back.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. True that. My MIL was complaining about a person at her work caught using a bogus SS card

Ranting on and on about how they were stealing SS money. I told her they'd never get the money they paid in back, if anything they were helping to pay for her current SS and Medicare.

[Xicano]

35. Exactly! Thanks damntexdem.

I was going to post this point as well and glad to see someone has already posted it. One other point to add. That is the amount they save Americans in a number of different ways as a result of the horrible slave wages they're paid in the number of menial jobs they perform that others will not.

[Romulox]

8. I love how the OP is being threatened for asking this question.

:silly:

[supernova]

9. Because illegal immigrants are the source of all evil!

They must be stopped at all costs!!

:silly:

[Romulox]

10. I didn't read that in the OP.

:shrug:

[supernova]

14. No, but it was implied

It's a common meme on the right that illegal immigrants suck services and revenue from the system without contributing anything.

[Romulox]

15. I don't know what's in the heart of the OP, but none of that was contained in the the Original Post.

:shrug:

[supernova]

20. If you can't read between the lines

I can't help you.

:shrug:

[Romulox]

21. So we should assume that anyone that asks that question is a racist?

I'm not willing to join you on that limb.

[AncientAtBirth666]

38. Jesus Christ

The reason I asked is so that I can argue IN FAVOR of giving health care to illegals! Right now the person I'm debating knows more facts and statistics related to the subject than I do and therefore has the upper hand in our debate, and I figured that some people here probably had some information that I could use, but now I'm a right wing xenophobe just for asking the question? Don't be so eager to rush to judgment!

[Cleita]

13. Well the same question has been asked over and over and answered over

and over.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. True, but perhaps this is just a new member?

Check out this post by the same new poster: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=8631787#8631787

[madamesilverspurs]

22. Now I'm wondering how

the same poster ostensibly penned a lengthy and rather detailed essay, yet could not spell the word "spend" in the present two-sentence post. Curious.

[cherokeeprogressive]

23. Not at all possible that it could be a TPYO, though, huh?

Have you ever hda one of those? A TOPY I mean? It's possibel. It even happens to me sometimes, and I try to go over my poosts with a fine tooth comb so peiple dont thnk I'm any stupider than they already do.

[madamesilverspurs]

31. I'm not suggesting that it isn't a typo.

My comment addresses a common and very much remarked upon error among those referred to (on DU, anyway) as 'morans'. When it occurs in the context of a post regarding a favorite 'freeper' hot-button issue the 'hmmmm alarm' buzzes again. My 'hmmmm alarm' got considerable practice when I was reviewing papers submitted by university students, where there were very noticeable stylistic differences between some students' papers and the work they normally produced in class; some of those students had 'borrowed' from fraternity/sorority files, others had paid to have the papers written for them. For the record: I was wondering, not accusing.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

25. It's appears to be typo rather than a spelling error

Honestly, I get being paranoid to an extent. However, from what I've seen of this poster so far, they do not deserve the attack they received here. <--- (I dropped the last E on "here" at first typing "her". It happens)

[madamesilverspurs]

32. See #31, above.

[AncientAtBirth666]

36. Uhhhhh.....

.....because I spent three days writing that essay, paying close attention to wording, phrasing and grammar, whereas this post was just a question that I wanted a very quick answer to, and took less time to write than it takes to read? Is that "curious" too?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

41. Shake it off.

I'll tell you a little story that may make you feel better.

I started here back in 2004 not long before the general election. I was riding a political high and felt we were within striking distance of giving Bush the boot. I was looking for a like minded community of people on the internet to keep me motivated and share my hopes with. They ate me alive.

I foolishly put my state of residence in my moniker. Big mistake that turned out to be, but I had no idea at the time the hornets nest I was unleashing on my delicate tush. Everything I said had a trail of deleted messages behind it. Lucky for me I didn't know how to use the "My DU" feature at the time and never saw what they were saying to me (about me?) or I'd have no doubt ran screaming into the night. Finally, for whatever the reason things quieted down after I'd been posting here for a few months.

The only mistake you made was asking a question which a lot of baiting freepers come here to ask. Take time to thank the stars your not a Texan posting on here. :scared: :rofl:

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Not to mention the fact that, according to right-wing media, illegal immigrants

are the cause of every social problem.

Discuss health care issues on an open board, and invariably some right-winger will attribute ALL of America's health care problems to 1) illegal immigrants, and 2) trial lawyers. In the Right-Wing Fantasy Land, if we could just get rid of illegal immigrants and trial lawyers, we could get health care for pennies on the dollar.

(Of course, none of the right-wing media advocate tough employer sanctions to discourage illegal immigrants from coming. No, that would deprive the right-wing of its favorite scapegoat.)

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LatteLibertine]

24. How much have taxpayers spent on the Iraq war and on the financial market bailout?

[leftstreet]

27. +1

[Sub Atomic]

30. I cannot vouch for the accuracy nor do I know who's behind it

but I saved this to my bookmarks many years ago because I found it interesting. I never spent the time to see how much, if any, of it is true.

http://www.immigrationcounters.com/

[haele]

33. Your question is too biased and leading. How much do we spend on health care for prisoners?

How much do we spend on un-insured people who are not working - or who have never worked and are not paying taxes that pay for health care? (i.e., children, disabled, dependant immigrants or refugees who are not enrolled in government programs?). How about un-reinbursed care provided to the un-insured who are working but have skipped out on paying their health care bills because they couldn't afford them or would rather declare bankruptcy or take their chances in court than pay?
If I want to be fair, I think your question should have been - "How much are we spending on health care that niether an insurance entity or the patient is paying for?"
Are you talking insurance premiums, government subsidized health care, charity care (which is also subsidized - but by organizations or the commuinty rather than by the government)? Out of pocket to consumers, or out of pocket to taxpayers?

It's not just "illegal immigrants" who are taking from the system but not paying in - a good number of them are actually employed with Social Security numbers(admittedly fake)and are paying State and Federal Taxes, Social Security and Medicare but aren't elegible for - but a good number of people who are here legally and are not paying "their fair share" as put by the many so-called compassionate conservitives around here.

Putting the problem of health costs to the un-insured health on the backs of the stereotype illegal immigrant (usually brown people in stained work clothes and straw hats) is unfair and rather prejudiced.

Here's a better question - How much do other countries with universal or public health care or pay for non-taxpayers or non-citizens with no money who have to use their services?

Haele

[Swamp Rat]

37. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[asdjrocky]

39. Is that you Ricky?

[KamaAina]

40. We "spen" a heck of a lot more than we need to

because undocumented immigrants (people are not illegal!), along with the rest of the uninsured, use emergency rooms as their primary source of care -- and ER care costs the most per patient.