Illegal immigration places a significant strain on America’s healthcare system, costing taxpayers and hospitals at least $23 billion every year.
Uncompensated hospital expenditures for illegal immigrants cost a whopping $8,153,000,000, a new report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has found.
The number is based on “recent estimates of the illegal aliens population,” which found that “roughly 8.2 million of the illegal aliens currently in the country do not have insurance coverage, making up approximately 31 percent of the total uninsured population.”
“If uninsured illegal aliens are assumed to require healthcare at a rate similar to other uninsured persons, they would make up approximately $8.2 billion of the uncompensated hospital expenditures in the United States,” the report goes on to explain.
But uncompensated hospital costs are just one of the many ways that illegal migrants put strain on the American healthcare system.
Medicaid fraud costs Americans just shy of $8 billion dollars, with the report estimating that $7,997,566,000 is lost due to fraud. If it is assumed that illegal immigrants engage in medicaid fraud or receive improper medicaid payments at the same rate as American citizens, then “there would be approximately 1,284,508 illegal aliens receiving improper Medicaid payouts each year.”
Notably, the report states that this is a “very conservative estimate, considering illegal aliens are both more likely to commit document-related fraud and have greater incentive to commit Medicaid fraud.”
Medicaid for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants also poses a significant strain on our system, with an estimated cost of $5,385,007,000. “At least 53 percent of illegal alien households are uninsured, meaning that approximately 2.83 million U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are without insurance,” FAIR explains.
They go on to say that “based on the foregoing evidence, FAIR estimates that approximately 75 percent of these 2.83 million U.S.-born children of illegal aliens (2.1 million) are eligible for, and receiving, Medicaid as members of low-income households, a similar rate to households with a non-illegal head of household.” These costs are split by both the federal and state taxpayers.
In addition, FAIR also estimates that Medicaid births cost just under $1.6 billion. The report notes the startling fact that “In 2020 … foreign-born mothers accounted for 22 percent, or 790,041, of the nationwide total of about 3.6 million births.”
SAN LUIS, ARIZONA – MAY 21: A pregnant immigrant from Haiti is assisted while having contractions by her partner (L) and another immigrant, after she crossed from Mexico, with the U.S.-Mexico border barrier in the background, on May 21, 2022 in San Luis, Arizona. A U.S. Border Patrol agent soon opened a gate in the border barrier to allow paramedics to reach her, while she was still technically in the United States. She had been stranded behind the barrier with other immigrants, some of whom said they had been waiting for two days to be picked up by Border Patrol. Title 42, the controversial pandemic-era border policy enacted by former President Trump, which cites COVID-19 as the reason to rapidly expel asylum seekers at the U.S. border, was set to officially expire on May 23rd. A federal judge in Louisiana delivered a ruling yesterday blocking the Biden administration from lifting Title 42. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
While the organization also notes that Medicaid paid for 42 percent of all births in 2020, they also cite a study that found that 48 percent of foreign-born women had their births paid for by medicaid. While the costs vary depending on the type of delivery and any complications, FAIR says that “the cost of those births is shared between the federal and the state taxpayer.”
“The federal share of the expenditure varies among states, averaging out to approximately 63 percent overall,” the report also reads. Yet again, FAIR explains that their figure of $1.6 billion “is certainly on the conservative side of reality.”
The total estimated figure for these costs is $23,132,475,000, though the real number could be significantly higher. The figure makes a significant increase from a 2018 study, which found that Americans were spending as much as $18.5 billion a year on healthcare for illegal migrants.
The report discusses the Affordable Care Act, stating, “While most illegal aliens do not qualify for coverage under the ACA, some with certain designations and deferments do.” They note that it is difficult to find exactly how many illegal immigrants do qualify for coverage since “data is lacking.”
“However, when taking maximum estimates from various immigration agencies and organizations, it is estimated that somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million illegal aliens fall into an immigration category covered by the ACA,” FAIR goes on to note in their report.
“It is impossible to estimate how many illegal aliens participate in the ACA, and what level of federal subsidy they receive,” the report notes while also pointing out that “this number is almost certainly substantial, and the federal government should be reporting the extent to which those who entered the country illegally participate in this program.”
FAIR also states that “it is unclear if the thousands of illegal aliens paroled into the country by the Biden administration will become eligible for Medicaid and other federal benefits.”
In addition, FAIR’s report also points out that “Paroled illegal aliens can receive certain benefits if the terms of their release is for a period of at least one year, but there is little information on whether these parolees from the border are receiving any set term lengths at all, and what federal benefits are being extended to them.”
Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at [email protected].
