Ruh Oh!

Hospital warns migrants to pay up. (Since this is the Arizona Republic, "migrant" means "illegal alien".)

TUCSON - Uninsured immigrants who fail to pay their medical bills are being reported to immigration officials and warned that they could face deportation under a new University Medical Center policy.

This month, hospital workers started calling the federal bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to turn in "foreign nationals" with delinquent accounts, said Barbara Felix, UMC's international patient service's coordinator. The policy, affecting legal and undocumented immigrants, reflects the growing frustration of hospital administrators along the U.S.-Mexican border saddled with millions of dollars in uncompensated care. UMC alone has incurred $3.3 million in unpaid bills from immigrants since July.

The message to immigrants is simple, Felix said: "All we're asking is, 'Step up to the plate and assume the responsibility for having received the medical attention that you needed. We're happy to give it to you, but now get with the program and set up a payment plan and stick with it.'

"If you go to Robinson's May or Dillard's and you buy something, you pay for it," she added. "It (medical care) doesn't fall from the sky."

Elementary considerations of logic don't apply when you're in Wonderland. Let's hear from the "logic challenged":

Guadalupe Castillo, a Tucson immigrant advocate, called on UMC to revoke the policy, saying it was "immoral" and "unethical."

"It is the right of all human beings to receive medical care regardless of their citizenship," she said. "That (policy) is saying, 'Don't come to the hospital because if you do, we'll turn you in.' It's frightening."

I must have missed the discovery of the "right" of everyone in the world to receive medical care from the American taxpayer. Sorry Guadalupe, but the really frightening part is:

On Tuesday, Congress voted to give $1 billion to hospitals over the next four years to supplement the cost of caring for uninsured immigrants. The provision, part of the landmark Medicare bill, could ease the burden for hospitals in Arizona, which is expected to receive about $160 million.

In a recent study of undocumented immigrant health care, Tucson was singled out as one of the hardest hit areas along the border. The study found that illegal immigrants racked up $190 million in unpaid bills at 77 border hospitals in 2000. In Pima County, the tab exceeded $24 million.

As always, the answer to all the whining of the "immigrant advocates" is that problem will clear up if the "immigrants" just head on home.