DeSantis’ plan to make hospitals ask patients’ immigration status is dangerous | Opinion
Gov. DeSantis recently released his most anti-immigrant bill yet. Among the many proposals that would make life harder for Florida immigrants without documented status, one is particularly dangerous and short-sighted when it comes to providing quality healthcare not only to immigrants, but to all Floridians.
In the governor’s own words, the proposal “requires hospitals to collect data on the immigration status of patients and the costs to provide care” to Floridians without documented immigration status and to “regularly report the data to the governor and Legislature.”
This particular proposal is dangerous and can only result in lost lives, diminished quality of care and higher healthcare costs for all Florida patients.
As someone who has worked for decades leading a healthcare technology and services company, I have seen firsthand the devastation that policies can cause when they target the ability of immigrants to get the healthcare they need — and not only on their health. They also diminish the quality of care available to everyone, whether or now a citizen.
Overcrowded emergency rooms are the most expensive place to seek care; still it’s one that I’ve seen families, both U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants, overuse. This causes financial stress on our healthcare system, as opposed to the use of a primary-care doctor who can give patients better preventive care.
Unfortunately, many undocumented immigrants already don’t show up for healthcare services at all, for they largely are shut out of federal programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). In addition, they are unable to pay out-of-pocket costs. Already, most won’t go to a doctor or emergency room for fear that their immigration status will be requested — and the reported to immigration authorities.
The governor’s proposal isn’t just dangerous — it’s fiscally short-sighted. A 1986 federal law says that nearly all hospitals must treat and stabilize anyone who shows up for help. That means forcing hospitals to ask patients their immigration status and then record it. This is something the American Medical Association says “should be avoided,” because it interferes with health providers’ primary duty to help, not harm, patients.
The AMA says that it will only drive away undocumented patients, at a point when their conditions could be treated at reasonable cost, compared to down the line when they have no choice but to show up at the emergency room in the middle of a heart attack, complex pregnancy or other urgent condition.
It’s been long known that the sicker you are when you show up at the hospital, the longer you’ll be there, the more care you’ll need and the higher the cost to the hospital. These costs, in turn, are passed on to all patients, often through higher insurance premiums and taxes.
This, again, is going to be felt at the local hospital level where funding for treatment will come from either increased taxes, a reduction in services or limits in access to care. In the long run, without proper access to preventive and primary care, the cost per capita will increase tremendously over time.
Hence, what DeSantis claims is a move to unburden the state of healthcare for undocumented immigrants will backfire when hospitals are required by law to treat them anyway. He would push vulnerable undocumented immigrants away from healthcare services and burden hospital workers with reporting tasks not germane to their duty to heal people.
It’s not just a dangerous policy, it’s a bad one — morally and financially.
Bill Lucia is a South Florida-based investor and consultant to Digital Health and other healthcare technology companies. He serves on the board of The American Business Immigration Coalition.
