Pearce Casts Vote On Side of New Mexico Hospitals
Rep. Pearce Heeds Hospitals’ Recommendations
Washington,
May 18, 2004 -
U.S. House of Representatives today considered H.R. 3722, which would require emergency room workers to limit certain life-saving health care services for undocumented immigrant patients. Additionally, the measure would convert healthcare providers into Border Patrol Agents – requiring them to contact Homeland Security to begin deportation proceedings. H.R. 3722, the Undocumented Alien Emergency Medical Assistance Amendments of 2004, overwhelmingly failed in the House by a vote of 88 to 331.
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) voted against the measure citing several reasons why the bill would be damaging and unproductive for New Mexico’s hospitals and health care providers:
“Among its provisions the measure would deny hospitals and other health care providers reimbursement for uncompensated emergency care they provide to undocumented immigrants unless they report those immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” Pearce said.
“Providers would thus have to verify the immigration status of all uninsured patients presenting health care emergencies – creating burdensome paperwork and placing health providers in a police-role,” Pearce said.
“The legislation would make employers liable for reimbursing the costs of health services provided to undocumented workers unless the employer certifies that it has complied with the law regarding verification of workers’ eligibility at the time the workers were hired and provides medical insurance and state workers compensation coverage for such employees. The bill also requires employers to cover all deductibles and co-payments for their employees to comply with the law. These mandates on employers for medical insurance and workers compensation, at a time when such insurance costs are at an all time high and many small businesses cannot afford further increases, are unwise and will likely cost jobs,” Pearce continued.
“The bill also would narrow the scope of emergency health services available to undocumented persons and make inability to pay medical expenses a basis for removal from the U.S. Employers of undocumented workers whose medical expenses are reimbursed by the federal government would be required to repay the government for those costs,” he said.
“This proposal would jeopardize the health of immigrants and the general public. Immigrants and their families would be deterred from seeking needed health services, including testing and treatment for communicable diseases,” Pearce concluded.
Pearce also said he was urged by several New Mexico Hospital Administrators to vote no on the measure.
Rich Robinson, head of Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell, said, “There is a significant amount of concern regarding what we perceive as significant barriers to providing life-saving medical care to undocumented aliens and the new burdensome requirements this legislation imposes on the hospitals, including us. While we accept many burdens related to documentation and reporting requirements, this legislation detracts significantly from our focus of providing care, placing an inappropriate focus on documentation requirements that place the hospital in more of a policing role rather than that of a care giver, particularly in emergency situations when the focus should be 100% care to the injured.”
John Hummer, CEO of MountainView Regional Medical center in Las Cruces, also weighed in on the issue. “The primary job of a healthcare provider is to treat patients, not participate in Homeland Security,” he said. “When someone is in need of emergency care, the focus of a healthcare worker is treatment, not going through a process of taking information and then communicating that information to Homeland Security officials,” Hummer continued.
Jeff Dye, Hospital Administrator from Socorro General Hospital, said, “Here in Socorro, we don't have a large proportion of undocumented alien patients. On the other hand, we don't want one of them to avoid needed services because of the border patrol effect that would be created by the law.”
“I recently heard a story from the ‘good old days’ when a border town hospital painted a van ‘border-patrol-green’ and parked it in the Emergency Room driveway to scare away undocumented immigrants. Who knows how many babies were born in cars or serious illnesses went untreated because of such action. I'm afraid this law would take us down that road,” Dye concluded.
