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or roughly 40% of all medical expenditures in the United States, make not participating in EMTALA impractical for nearly all hospitals. EMTALA IMPACTS Improved Health Services for uninsured The most significant effect is that, regardless of insurance status, everyone in need of urgent medical assistance is now legally guaranteed to receive it. Illegal Immigrants According to a 1999 report for the Kaiser Family Foundation , illegal immigrant Latino adults used fewer physician services than all adults nationally despite reporting worse health. Over one-third of all hospitalizations for illegal immigrant Latinos were for childbirth--costing $7,000 to $18,000 each. "California’s Undocumented Latino Immigrants: A Report on Access to Health Care Services"; page 34 {pdf pg.38} {Link without Title} Pregnancy and childbirth: Average Cost by Condition {Link without Title} . This childbirth hospitalization rate is twice as high as the rate for all other women in the U.S.. Seven to twelve percent of illegal immigrants reported they had been hospitalized at least once overnight or longer in the U.S. during the last 12 months. Nationally, 8.5 percent of adult Latinos were hospitalized in the previous 12-month period. "California’s Undocumented Latino Immigrants: A Report on Access to Health Care Services";page 38 {pdf p. 42}] {Link without Title} Cost Shifting When medical bills go unpaid health care providers have to shift the costs onto those who can pay—mainly those with health insurance or government programs. This cost-shifting amounts to a hidden tax levied by providers on behalf of those who cannot or will not pay, the non-paying uninsured and underinsured. (Peter Harbage and Len M. Nichols, Ph.D., "A Premium Price: The Hidden Costs All Californians Pay In Our Fragmented Health Care System," New America Foundation, 12/2006) •The hidden tax costs $455 per individual or $1,186 per family each year. "This results in an approximate 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums for Californians. More specifically, the average California family with health insurance will pay an additional $1,186 in premiums for 2006. Individuals purchasing insurance will spend about $455 annually in additional premiums." (Peter Harbage and Len M. Nichols, Ph.D., "A Premium Price: The Hidden Costs All Californians Pay In Our Fragmented Health Care System," New America Foundation, 12/2006) To help defray the $9.6 billion in uncompensated care in California, state, Federal and local governments spend several billion dollars annually through Medicaid, Medical and other state and local compensations spent on local hospitals. Peter Harbage and Len M. Nichols, Ph.D., "A Premium Price: The Hidden Costs All Californians Pay In Our Fragmented Health Care System," New America Foundation, 12/2006) The average citizen gets hit thrice, once through higher medical premiums, second through higher medical charges and third through higher taxes to pay for what is still not covered. Bankruptcies and EMTALA Bankruptcies have grown dramatically since the mid-1980s. At the same time, the proportion of workers with medical insurance has fallen, while medical costs have grown. Both of these observed phenomena are believed related to the 1986 passage of EMTALA. Had EMTALA not passed, the US medical insurance rate would have increased significantly less after 1986 than what has been observed. The passage of EMTALA has forced hospitals and doctors to significantly increase their charges to paying patients to make up for the uncompensated costs imposed by EMTALA. These higher insurance and medical charges and the presence of EMTALA have had the effect of forcing many to drop their medical insurance coverage. In turn, the lack of medical insurance have forced many into bankruptcy to avoid paying their high non EMTALA medical bills when they do get sick or have an accident. {Link without Title} NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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