And those Mexicans are certainly well informed. According to federal law, ?A participating hospital may not delay providing an appropriate medical screening examination ? or further medical examination and treatment ? in order to inquire about the individual?s method of payment or insurance status.?
That?s great as far as it goes. We certainly can?t have E.R.s turning away gunshot victims because their Blue Cross might be expired. However, the system clearly won?t work unless the federal government is also doing due diligence to keep illegal aliens -- who, among other things, lack health insurance -- out of the country. And in that, it?s dropping the ball.
?The U.S.?s borders, rather than becoming more secure since 9/11, have grown even more porous,? TIME magazine reported on Sept. 20. In fact, the magazine estimates, ?the number of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. this year will total 3 million ? It will be the largest wave since 2001 and roughly triple the number of immigrants who will come to the U.S. by legal means.?
Just as we can all agree that hospitals ought to treat all patients who come through their doors, we all ought to be able to agree that the government must crack down on illegal immigration. As the great California congressman Sonny Bono once put it, ?What?s to talk about? It?s illegal.?
The state of Arizona seems like a good place to start. More than 4,000 people illegally cross its border every day. This November, the state will consider Proposition 200, which compels the government to enforce immigration laws that are already on the books.
Like Rep. Bono?s comment, that seems simple enough. After all, if the lawmakers don?t like the immigration laws we?ve got, they should change them. Otherwise, they ought to insist the laws be enforced. That, after all, is what laws are for -- not merely to be passed and then ignored. Polls predict up to 75 percent of Arizona?s voters will say yes to Prop 200.
It?s a start.
As my friend in Orange County puts it, ?There needs to be respect of the law, and it needs to be uniform. I don?t blame poor immigrants for coming here, I blame us, as in the federal, state and local governments, for making it ridiculously easy to get here and stay here.?
The dominos are falling in California. It?s time to crack down on illegal immigration, before our whole health-care system tumbles, too.