Yuma Hospital CEO: We’re Overrun by Migrants, $20 Million in Unpaid Health Care
(CNSNews.com) — Because of the influx of immigrants through the U.S.-Mexico border, a hospital in Yuma, Arizona, is often overwhelmed and, so far, has provided over $20 million in uncompensated health care, said Dr. Robert Transchel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional. He added that, “nobody has a solution.”
On Sunday, Dr. Transchel told Fox & Friends Weekend, “We’ve been at this for well over a year now. We tracked our uncompensated care for a period of over six months, and we calculated that we’ve provided over $20 million in uncompensated care to the migrants crossing the border.”
“We just don’t have a payer source,” he said. “Everybody is sympathetic, and everybody lends a listening ear, but nobody has a solution.”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, around six million migrants have entered the country since the Biden administration took control in January 2021, and of these, 1.2 million have eluded authorities.
Dr. Transchel discussed a recurring cycle that is driving the hospital to a complete shutdown. Droves of immigrants come to the medical center seeking care and then do not pay for the services they receive. This uptick in patients has forced the hospital to hire new workers and over-work preexisting ones without being able to reasonably compensate them.
It is an “unsustainable model to have unexpected expense without any revenue to offset it,” Transchel told Fox News. “It’s a no-win situation.”
“It’s unfair to residents of our community, too, because we’re providing free care to these individuals,” he added. “The residents of our community don’t get free care.”
Transchel said the members of the community, citizens of the United States, have “had to suffer through that.” The hospital has had to cancel “planned inductions for our residents” because of the enormous amount of immigrants seeking care.
Yuma Regional is the only hospital with a functioning maternity unit because the nearest hospital, 60 miles away, disbanded their program. Dr. Transchel said that many of the immigrant patients are pregnant, and that the center’s maternity ward has reached capacity.
Additionally, Dr. Transchel told Fox News, “These individuals take at least three times the number of human resources to resolve their cases and get them a safe discharge as a regular patient in our hospital.”
The problem continues to remain unsolved despite pleading with Arizona officials and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Neither the state nor the federal government has stepped in to help with the cost.
“If we continue to have these extraordinary expenses that are not reimbursed, it could have a significant impact on the hospital,” said the doctor. “We need a payer source to have this hospital remain sustainable, viable for the future.”
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