Analysis: Migrants Costing U.S. Taxpayers Billions for Free, Uninsured Health Care

Illegal immigrants are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars just to cover their medical care, with politicians and healthcare workers from around the U.S. sounding the alarm on the overwhelming debt.

As millions of migrants pour through the U.S.-Mexico border, they’re taking up space in emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs), and racking up exorbitant amounts of debt while being uninsured and taking advantage of Medicaid.

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A November 2023 report from the House Committee on Homeland Security revealed that out of an estimated $451 billion in yearly costs connected to the Biden administration’s immigration crisis, a significant chunk is going to healthcare for illegal aliens.

While the vast majority of illegals don’t have insurance, they’re free to rack up debt with long hospital stays. Many are also able to get government welfare, including Medicaid. All an illegal migrant would have to do is cross the southern border into California to receive taxpayer-funded insurance.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ushered in the first state program to offer free subsidized healthcare to illegal migrants under the Medi-Cal system in the beginning of 2024, Breitbart News reported.

An employee of a Southern California hospital who recently spoke with the Epoch Times on conditions of public anonymity said, “The entire health care system is just being bombarded” by the stream of migrants.

“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she added.

Just in the first five months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 902,000 migrants who illegally crossed into the U.S. between ports of entry, Breitbart News reported.

“Last year broke a new record high for illegal border crossings, surpassing more than 3.2 million apprehensions,” the Epoch Times noted.

California’s new program will cost taxpayers more than $4.8 billion, according to a fiscal burden analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), citing California Health and Human Services data.

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Meanwhile, in the sanctuary city of Denver, Colorado, recent migrants left the local healthcare system to deal with more than $10 million in uncompensated costs in 2023, according to Denver Health representative Dane Roper.

This enormous figure came from 8,000 illegal immigrants who made about 20,000 health visits in 2023, CEO Donna Lynne told reporters in January.

“The perspective we’ve been trying to emphasize all along is that providing healthcare services for an influx of new immigrants who are unable to pay for their care is adding additional strain to an already significant uncompensated care burden,” Roper told the Epoch Times.

More medical professionals from around the country also voiced their complaints to the publication about the increased uncompensated workload.

Dr. Robert Trenschel, CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center in an Arizona border town, said these migrants are costing up to triple the amount of human resources on average.

“Some [illegal] migrants come with minor ailments, but many of them come in with significant disease,” Trenschel said during a 2023 congressional hearing. “We’ve had migrant patients on dialysis, cardiac catheterization, and in need of heart surgery. Many are very sick.”

According to the doctor, many migrants are staying in the ICU wards for more than 60 days, and a large portion of patients are pregnant women who have had subpar or no prenatal care. This results in an increase of newborns needing intensive care as well.

“Our reality is this — we have delivered over $26 million in uncompensated care to these individuals in the 12-month period of time from December 2021 – November 2022,” Trenschel said to congressional representatives. 

“That is an auditable figure. Let me assure you — it is not an approximation. That number comes from a detailed review of unpaid patient bills directly attributed to migrant patients,” he asserted. “$26 million in uncompensated care is not a sustainable business model.”

While progressive leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions continue to ignore the burden on citizens, some House Republicans are attempting to halt migrants from utilizing Medicaid.

On January 17, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) introduced the Protect Medicaid Act in order to “prevent federal taxpayer dollars from being used to administer or provide Medicaid benefits to illegal immigrants.”

“We must stop rewarding those who break our laws at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens,” Hudson wrote on X at the time.