Healthcare In Crisis: NJ Hospitals Struggle With Medical Tourists

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

NJ Hospitals Struggle With Medical Tourists

"North Jersey hospitals are treating increasing numbers of foreigners who travel to the U.S. for medical care -- and leave without paying their bill. Mindful that U.S. emergency rooms must take all comers, these medical tourists head from the airport straight to the hospital -- sometimes armed with CT scans and doctor's notes. As soon as they're well, they're back on the plane home. They're leaving hospitals -- and taxpayers -- on the hook for millions at a time when 40 percent of the state's hospitals are operating in the red..."If this doesn't stop, hospitals will go bankrupt," Ferguson said. They already have in California, where 84 hospitals have closed, overwhelmed by free health care to non-citizens.
(link to article in The Record, Bergen County, New Jersey)

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Statistics Collection

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