Title: Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show | CNSNews
Headings: Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show
Illegal Immigrants Account for $10.7 Billion of Nation’s Health Care Costs, Data Show
CNSNews Reader,
Connect
MRC Store

Content: For example, California is the largest and just within the state – not including federal monies – I get that [cost] at $1.6 billion per year.” In fact, state governments bear the heaviest burden for subsidizing the health care of illegal immigrants. Martin said he calculated that, all told, states pay $6.9 billion per year to care for their illegal immigrant populations. “The estimates of the costs that are paid by the states in total run to about $6.9 billion,” he said. “ The difference between that and the over $10 billion figure is the amount that is paid out of federal funds.” Martin’s figures are similar to those reported in a 2004 study published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which showed that illegals accounted for $6.4 billion of federal health care spending – the CIS study did not examine states expenditures. The CIS study did include federal programs for which illegal immigrants are legally barred, such as Medicaid. However, federal funds still flowed their way due to the fact that illegal immigrant parents gain access to federal welfare and health care benefits through their U.S.-born children. According to the CIS study, illegals accounted for 13.1 percent of all federal costs of covering the uninsured in 2004, an estimated $2.2 billion per year. Seventeen percent of households headed by an illegal immigrant were using Medicaid, accounting for 1.7 percent of all Medicaid recipients.