Cost Shifting Of The United States Healthcare System

One of the most significant issues to issues to affect healthcare in today’s society is the impact that illegal aliens have on the already broken healthcare system. This paper will explore the impact of undocumented Hispanics and their impact on the services available and used in California. Included will be the numbers of those that are affected as well as what is being done to decrease the impact of this population on the current healthcare system.

America needs comprehensive health care reform, and immigrants should be a part of the movement.  But many American citizens might ask that pertinent question: why should they cover the expense for illegal immigrants to access health care?  The answer is plain and simple: until congress passes immigration laws that work, people are going to migrant here illegally.  And to deny migrants access to affordable health care, Americans are not only denying them their human right, they are also putting individual and national health at risk.  I believe that this country – which has the medical advancements and the facilities to ensure the health of its citizens – should reach out to its non-citizens, legal and illegal, until it

In the healthcare environment, the challenges that providers face are revenue shortfalls due to insufficient payments from the reduction of Medicare reimbursement rates (Shi and Singh, 2015. p238). Payers that have employment-based insurance are charged extra to cover the remaining balance. This process is called cost shifting. In some healthcare systems, the relationship between reimbursement reduction and cost shifting is correlated in an inversely proportional trend. As the decrease in reimbursement from public insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid, the method of cost shifting would increase.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had mame dramatic changes in the field of the health care system, especially in Medicare, that will seriously take effect in American seniors. Indeed, much of the health law’s new spending is financed by spending reductions in the Medicare program. In addition to the provider payment reductions, Obamacare significantly reduces payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by an estimated $156 billion from 2013 to 2022.( Elmendorf, letter to Speaker Boehner). About 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA plans, a system of regulated and private plans competing against each other as an alternative to traditional Medicare. MA plans are attractive to beneficiaries because they offer more generous and comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare by capping out-of-pocket costs and offering drug coverage to a rasonable

Health System Reform in the United States: Impact of Rising Premiums and Opportunities for System Improvements to Enhance Access to Healthcare Services

With the economy of the United States in shambles, illegal immigration and the effects it has on health care can no longer be ignored. America has a whole needs to be concerned and well informed of the issues rather than collecting information piecemeal by way of media or other biased groups. If illegal immigration stays its present course the American tax-payer will continue to fund the well being of individuals who have broken federal rules and regulations and are being supported by law abiding citizens. This argument is not about individual rights to live and prosper. It is not about race or discrimination of any sort. It is only about the effects on health care that I am addressing.

But amazingly, the flow of foreign-born is so large that immigrants currently account for a larger share of labor force growth than natives (“U.S. Immigration and Economic Growth: Putting Policy on Hold”, 2003) When you do the math, it makes a good deal of sense to spend the little that we do—if not more—to keep them healthy (Karvounis, 2007). Care for undocumented immigrants represents a tiny fraction of the nation’s health care burden. They receive minimal care; some pay taxes. Between one half and three quarters of undocumented immigrants pay taxes and some work “off the books” jobs as well (What Immigration Reform Could Mean To The US Economy, 2009). Illegal aliens provide as much as 7 billion dollars a year to the Social Security Fund although they cannot claim benefits for this program (Immigrants’ Economic Contribution, 2009). Further still, undocumented workers pay sales taxes where applicable and property taxes—directly if they own and indirectly if they rent (“Undocumented Immigrants as Taxpayers”, 2007).

There are several arguments spotlighting the effect of illegal immigration on current rising health care cost. To this point, illegal immigrants and elected representatives across the country are unable to deny the increased costs placed upon the backs of American taxpayers due to the rise in health care and health care insurance cost. A bill initiated in Indiana will demand local hospitals create a report regarding the costs associated with treating illegal immigrants. Additionally, on a countrywide level, there is an ongoing endeavor to push illegal immigrant children toward federally funded Children’s Health Insurance by the governing body which in turn will effectively raise the current tax rates for all Americans. As an alternative, some policymakers are trying to use creative language in order to guarantee that illegal immigrants were blocked from obtaining health care services (Maxwell & Adolfo 324). For undocumented immigrants within the United States, acquiring health related services or care systematically increases the cost for American taxpayers across the board. Health care providers, Health care insurance companies and both the state and federally supplemented health care funds ( i.e. Medicaid) are forced to close the gap on the negative revenue return by increasing cost of services due to the excessive use and write off of public health care funds and services by illegal immigrants.

In the area of healthcare, the influx of illegals has proven to put a huge burden in all areas of the system. In California over the last decade many hospitals and emergency rooms have closed due to the illegals being treated there and not being able to pay the bills from the hospital. Right now, California out of the 50 states is last in the number of emergency rooms per million people (Jones, 2012, #6.). The insurance premiums for citizens keep increasing because when the illegal’s go to an emergency room

Although the number of illegal immigrants is substantially growing on a daily basis, the national health care policies seem to fail in addressing their medical needs. This, however, is becoming a growing challenge because of the conflicts between medical ethics and immigration laws. Despite the alluded hope for this patients group within the immigration reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) fails to alleviate the burden of their unmet health care needs. Advocates of their rights for health coverage argue that medical ethics and the United States moral obligations necessitate expanding coverage to all population residing within the borders of the country. Conversely, opponents deny their health coverage because their illegal status disqualify them from all public benefits. This paper goes beyond these opposing assumptions and instead, proposes a strategic plan to raise and combine resources necessary to establish a health care center for the uninsured, underinsured, and illegal immigrants in Northern California. The paper covers the establishment of this center with special focus on strategic funding, funding constraints, related state and national regulations, health policy, resources allocation, and managerial and leadership.

There have been legislative bills that have limited the access that illegal immigrants have to medical care, whether it be private insurance or with federal help such as state funded resources like Medical. For example the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 restricts medical care for illegal immigrants. Jeffrey Kullgren a medical student at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, argues that having severe limitations on health care services threatens the public’s health. He argues that the original purposes of the act were to reduce illegal immigration and preserve resources yet the act burdens health care providers and endangers the public’s health. The act stated that it was made in order to “remove the incentive for illegal immigration” and so that “individual aliens not burden the public benefits system”. These were the argument made in order to place eligibility restrictions for service made available by the local, state and federal governments. Although there were exceptions to the act, such as being able to get emergency care and immunizations, it still made getting proper health care very difficult. Placing these kinds of restrictions on people Kullgren argues has consequences on health. One is that it leads to greater waiting times and increase cost which reduces the efficiency of medical facilities. Another is that it can affect the lives of the American born children of immigrants. Although they are able to receive medical services, their parents are afraid to seek health care because they believe that they can get deported. Or they are not sure of whether their children are able to get medical coverage. Another negative result due to the act, Kullgren states, is that public resources are not being effectively used. It costs more to treat emergency situations that could have been easily prevented or that could have

Today, the United States faces budget problems at local, state, and national levels. Soon, Congress will vote whether or not to raise the national debt ceiling, hoping to avoid defaults on loans and causing further harm to a slumping economy. While federal budget cuts will have to be made should the ceiling be lifted or not, cuts are also being felt on a local level, even in places like education. While not completely responsible for these problems, there are over 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Unfortunately, about 59% of them do not have health insurance. With 25% of legal immigrants uninsured, that creates a large population that cannot seek or receive proper medical treatment (Wolf, 2008). Fixing this

By legalizing illegal immigrants more taxes will be collected and all the bills would be paid, and if they are unable to pay it will show on the record. Many legal Americans have limited or no health-care benefits and must rely on subsidized assistance in the form of programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. All government-subsidized programs to fund health care for indigent patients have finite resources. Yet, the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, through no fault of their own, have medical needs and emergencies—for which most tabs are picked up by taxpayers (Negy 140). The argument that undocumented immigrants pay taxes and are thus entitled to subsidized health care is flawed for two reasons. One, the majority of undocumented immigrants

Due to the upcoming presidential election, the two major political parties, and their candidates, have been focusing on the primary problems that the nation will face. Chief among those problems is the future of Medicare, the national health-insurance plan. Medicare was enacted in 1965, under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, in order to provide health insurance for retired citizens and the disabled (Ryan). The Medicare program covers most people aged 65 or older, as well as handicapped people who enroll in the program, and consists of two health plans: a hospital insurance plan (part A) and a medical insurance plan (part B) (Marmor 22). Before Medicare, many Americans didn't have health

Immigrants have been coming to America since the start of this country. However, there is a fine line between an illegal and legal immigrant. Although most immigrants come here in search of a better life for themselves, they do not think about the consequences the rest of the country must fac. Since they are not citizens, they do not receive some of the benefits that an American citizen has, including health care and public schooling. Although they do not have these benefits, they continue receive treatments at hospitals and attend schools, which Americans cannot afford. Illegal immigrants affect the United States’ economy, health care system, and education system in a negative way.