America's Essential Hospitals, the safety-net hospital lobbying group formerly known as the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, issued a release urging Congress to add healthcare payment reforms for immigrants into a larger immigration bill passed by the Senate Thursday.
Bruce Siegel, MD, president and CEO of AEH, said in the release, "The [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act won't reach the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants and might prove unaffordable for many others legally here. A patchwork of funding sources now exists for uninsured immigrants and, in most cases, pays for only limited services, such as emergency care."
Dr. Siegel argued this "inadequate framework" leaves the burden on safety-net hospitals to provide transportation and nonemergency primary, preventive and follow-up care.
"As we continue the national dialogue on immigration reform," he wrote, "we must consider the costs to lives and our nation of failing to recognize the healthcare needs of immigrants and the hospital capacity required to care for them."
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