ImmigrationArizona may require hospitals to report undocumented immigrants seeking care
A bill before the Arizona legislature aims to track how many undocumented immigrants are receiving free medical care at hospitals in Arizona. The bill would require hospitals to confirm a person’s legal presence in the country if the individual seeking care does not have insurance. If the staff thinks the patient is here illegally, they must notify authorities.
Representative Steve Smith (R-Arizona) has introduced a bill designed to track how many undocumented immigrants are receiving free medical care at hospitals in Arizona.
“I get asked from constituents all the time,” Smith told AZFamily. “How much money does Arizona spend on free services for illegal aliens? And the answer is, we have no clue.”
According to Smith, the bill, known as HB 2293, would require hospitals to confirm a person’s legal presence in the country if the individual seeking care does not have insurance. If the staff thinks the patient is here illegally, they must notify authorities.
Smith’s bill specifically exempts Canadians. When asked by AZFamily, if the bill is tailored to Latin Americans, Smith defended the bill he drafted.
“No. Canadians do not need non-immigrant visas,” Smith responded. “So if the question is what about Canadians? They don’t need non-immigrant visas when they are in this country. People from Latin America do. People from many other countries around the world do.”
Smith said his bill will create a situation in which patients would still get the treatment they need, and the government would get better information.
People in the hospital industry argue the legislature should focus on the one million Arizona residents who do not have health insurance. The industry says it will also cost a significant amount of money to train people to handle the reporting the bill requires.
“Wouldn’t you think the more reliable statistics are when people are using day to day services and not the off-chance or periodic chance they enter a hospital?” Pete Wertheim of Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association told AZFamily. “How about a grocery store? Everybody goes to a grocery store periodically. That’s a more reliable place you could get that kind of information.”
“When does this begin or end?” Wertheim added. “What other industry should be screening their customers for citizenship verification?”
Smith does not understand why people are opposing the legislation.
“I would hope if you witnessed somebody who is not lawfully present in this country taking advantage of, getting, acquiring any benefit or social service or something that they’re not entitled to, or something they’re abusing or neglected,” Smith told AZFamily. “I would hope somebody would pick up the phone and go, ‘Maricopa police, Buckeye police, I think — I’m not sure — but I think this is happening.”
