- From Brownsville, Texas, to Douglas, Arizona, Mexican
ambulance drivers "are transporting hospital patients unable to pay
for medical care or emergency-room services in their country to facilities
in the United States, where their treatment is mandated by federal law,"
reported the December 12th Washington Times. "The patients are being
transported through the U.S.-Mexico border,s many unguarded crossings when
hospitals along the border are reporting losses of more than $200 million
in unreimbursed costs for treating illegal aliens, and the numbers continue
to rise."
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- "Hospitals in Mexico are pointing the ambulances
north when they discover a patient can,t pay for services and has no insurance,"
a federal law-enforcement official told the newspaper. "They know
they can get treatment in this country." Under the federal Emergency
Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, hospitals with emergency room services
are required to treat anyone who requires care, including illegal aliens
" but the act does not specify who is liable for the costs. "Some
emergency rooms [along the border] have shut down, and others will close
because they simply cannot afford to stay open," protests Senator
Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). "Meanwhile, taxpaying American citizens are denied
care or have to wait an inordinate amount of time to receive emergency
care."
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- Sen. Kyl has proposed a bill providing for federal reimbursement
of emergency care for illegal aliens, but his proposal would simply exacerbate
the problem by creating an even larger incentive for Mexican ambulance
raids. The most cost-effective solution would be for the federal government
to carry out its constitutionally mandated duty to protect our borders
against incursions staged by the hostile regime to the south.
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- http://thenewamerican.com/tna/2003/01-13-2003/insider/vo19no01_ambulance.htm
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