The L.A. Times is reporting that “Illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California, according to a study published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.”
Wow! This study sinks one of the Minutemen’s biggest lies…that immigrants are ruining our healthcare system by overusing hospital ER services.
Here are a few more excerpts from the L.A. Times article:
“The current policy discourse that undocumented immigrants are a burden on the public because they overuse public resources is not borne out with data, for either primary care or emergency department care,” said Alexander N. Ortega, an associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health and the study’s lead author. “In fact, they seem to be underutilizing the system, given their health needs.”
Ortega’s study is not the first to find that illegal immigrants use fewer healthcare services than people born in the U.S. But his study used the largest sample, analyzing data from 42,044 participants of the 2003 California Health Interview Survey, a randomized telephone survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Department of Public Health.
And while other studies have attributed lower usage to immigrants simply being younger and healthier than the overall population, the study published Monday took into account age, health status, insurance status and poverty level. All such factors being equal, it found, immigrants still made fewer visits to physicians and were 30% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to have a regular source of healthcare.
Dr. Felix Nu
Hi Art, I saw this yesterday off of Reuters.
You know, I don’t think phone surveys are the best way to analyze this particular subject. The results can be nullified by people answering they way they think they ought to answer.
I think a better way to study this subject would be to actually take a sample of the accounts of various hospitals and clinics and see which unpaid accounts do not have a social security number attached to it.
Phone surveys in my opinion are the good only on a limited number of subjects such as opinion polls.
what do you think?
PS
I have taken part in statistical studies when I was in school. I am not an expert but I am pretty familiar with the various methods of data collection.
PSS
I am Mexican-American by the way…in case you were wondering 🙂
What about the anchor babies illegals drop in our laps with great regularity? Where are they delivered? At Taqueria de Anda? No, in our hospitals where we pick up the tab.
We might as well move the southern border all the way up to Oregon.
Art, the headline you quote in the first sentence of your post includes the word Illegal, thus it refers to a subset of the broader category of immigrants. Your omission of that word from your headline must be a typo. Or else you are engaged in spinning the news.
Nice try, Art. This is a flawed study designed to obtain the result it sought.
“42,044 participants of the 2003 California Health Interview Survey, a randomized telephone survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Department of Public Health.”
Illegal immigrants aren’t going to answer the telephone and admit to a government entity that a) they are here illegally, and b) that they are using ERs without paying for them.
Just like the census numbers. You have no legitimacy, Art, especially when you omit the word “illegal” or even “undocumented” from you headline!
What a pandering fool you are…
another one of pedrozas fairy tales.this story comes from the number 1 cheerleader of illegal immagration the democratic times of los angeles . every knows this news paper tends to slant stories so far to one side that their circalation and subscriptions are way down . and to belive that the stats came from a telephone survey. rob is correct on this one . we all know illegals drain tax payer money and no phony story like this is going to change the mind of citizens . the story might as well came from la opinon .
This story printed in the LA Times is related to a joint study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Department of Public Health.
This study was published in the Journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
A prestigious University’s department, affiliated with it’s School of Medicine and a department of the State of California can hardly be described as liberal and pro illegal immigration. These entities by nature have strict scientific models that drive their research. It is not a study to fit a pro illegal immigrant agenda – how rediculous.
The findings were published in a respected prestigious Medical Journal. Journals of this type have boards that eveluate scientific research papers presented for publishing. After critical review, primarily of it’s scientific model, this Board decides wether the research paper is worhty of printing in the respected Journal.
The story is not the oppinion of Art Pedroza or that of the LA Times. The Times referred to the published study and Art Pedroza referred to the La Times article. Don’t criticize these two about the study. If you disagree and think you have better credentials, than the researchers and the publishing selection Medical Doctor Board responsible for making this study public, then beat these entities up and not the others.
Hello Mr. Lomeli, I am anon #1 on this thread
again, I would have to critique the method of data collection. I believe phone surveys to gauge whether people using or not using medical services is open to flawed results.
It does not matter how prestigious the institute who sponsored the study is.
Don’t you think that the usage of phone surveys is a curious method to measure this subject matter? I do. Look at it objectively.
Carlos,
You, The Times, nor I know the specifics regarding the phone survey. This item was presented by the Times without any reference to the scientific method the phone survey was part of.
I am saying that the Medical Journal that published the research reviewed the study as they do any other scientific study presented for publishing. They had the details and were apparently satisfied with the scientific methodology used,.
Based on the imformation presented by the LA Times you, Carlos, can only make assumptions. If you are really concerned about the “objectivity”, then you should read the original study.
You are not offering a “critique”, as you say, since you have not read the study. You are simply presenting your oppinion based on an article that only discusses the conclusion of the study.
Right, illegals dont use emergency rooms…they abuse them. They come in with no medical history and then sue the hospital.Another set-up survey by “professional hispanics.” Don’t fall for it Art.
#9,
The UCLA School of Public Health, the journal of Internal Medicine and the California Department of Public Health are made up of professional Hispanics to set up a survey?????
Your agenda is rabid, hateful and dangerous.
LAT is a megaphone for the left and so are all the organizations listed. I guess our Medicare and MIA funding is thru the roof because of whom? Wait let me guess…Republicans. Those damn Republicans who don’t have insurance and show up to have a baby with no pre natal care.
It is unbelievable watching you guys (on both sides) spinning the crap out of this study. Try reading it before taking a journalist’s spin on what it says and spinning that.
You do not have any read on the volume or type of services used by any of the groups;
you do not know whether the U.S. Born group is overusing in relation to other groups
“took into account age, health status, insurance status and poverty level. All such factors being equal, it found, immigrants still made fewer visits to physicians and were 30% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to have a regular source of healthcare.” This simply means that an uninsured illegal immigrant without health insurance is less likely to have a regular source of health care. Using the same application, it simply means legal latinos without insurance are more likely to use the ER than illegal immigrants. Big Deal. It still does not address numbers, cost, etc.
give me a break.
Lomeli,
You’re right, this was a published, peer-reviewed study. Unfortunately, it was based on random phone surveys, which are a much less valid scientific method than laboratory studies or control groups. That said, you are right about bashing the source not the reporter.
Art Pedroza is open to criticism with idiot headlines like this one that say illegals DON’T use ERs – that is WRONG, and misrepresents the story. You could say he lied.
Another part of the article which is lost here:
“Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that lobbies for tougher immigration controls, said that usage rates are just one measure of illegal immigrants’ effect on healthcare. The other factor, he said, is the cost to taxpayers, which Ortega’s study did not examine.
Cost estimates vary widely. A Rand Corp. study published last year in the journal Health Affairs put the cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants nationwide at $1.1 billion a year, excluding care for those younger than 18 and older than 64.
FAIR called the Rand number a “low-ball” estimate. Its own study of healthcare costs of illegal immigrants and their dependents, including U.S.-born children, estimated California’s portion alone to be about $1.5 billion a year.”