Illegal immigrants flooding into U.S. to give birth (Houston Chronicle)

[kurth]

Sept. 24, 2006
'Border baby' boom strains S. Texas
More illegal immigrants are pouring into the state to give birth
By JAMES PINKERTON

RIO GRANDE CITY — First it was a trickle, now it's a flood. Rising numbers of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America are streaming into Texas to give birth, straining hospitals and costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, health officials say. Doctors and health officials say they are overwhelmed by both the new arrivals and those immigrant mothers who already are in the state. Even Houston's feeling the pinch. An estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the 10,587 births at Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital last year were to undocumented immigrants, administrators say.

Also feeling the strain is Starr County, an already poor South Texas county that has the region's only taxpayer-supported hospital district. Immigrants "want a U.S.-born baby" and know that emergency room staffers don't collect any money up front, said Dr. Mario Rodriguez, an obstetrician in Starr County. "The word is out: Come to Starr County and get delivered for free. Why pay $1,000 in Mexico when you can get it for free?" Rodriguez said. "When we are separated only by the distance of the river, it's easy to do," Starr County hospital administrator Thalia Muñoz said. "It's gotten worse, and it's because the economy in Mexico is not good and because we provide all these benefits."

Unfortunately, doctors say, Starr County isn't alone. "Our little snapshot is duplicated in all the municipalities between here and California," said Tony Falcon, a Rio Grande City physician who was appointed to the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission in April. "What you see here is what is happening in Brownsville, McAllen, El Paso and San Diego." He operates a private family clinic and delivers babies at the Starr County hospital. About a third of his deliveries are what he calls "walk-ins" — mothers in labor showing up at the ER. "Obviously, it has a huge impact on patient health and the kind of health care that's provided," Falcon said....

Starr County Memorial Hospital had $3.6 million in uncollected medical bills in 2005, up from $1.5 million in 2002. The total when fiscal 2006 ends on Sept. 30 is expected to hit $3.9 million, chief financial officer Rafael Olivarez said. Unpaid bills for the past five years will reach nearly $13 million, he said. To make up for the shortfall, Starr County's hospital district is proposing a 25 percent tax hike....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4209908.html

[valerief]

1. Well, once cat-killer Billy Frist tells them to just say no to sex and

yes to abstinence, then the problem will go away. Right? I mean, that tactic is working for Americans, isn't it?

[Deja Q]

3. Or everyone else on this planet.

America's population is far, far less than those of other nations. Or are we doing something wrong?

[Deja Q]

2. Why can't they go to Venezuela instead?

Unlike *'s actions (he doesn't give much of a crap to anybody; enough topics in freeperland kinda prove that too), Chavez is nice to the poor.

[Demobrat]

4. Maybe because

they can't walk there?