A Hospital on Border Going Over the Edge

The 13-bed private facility lost $800,000 caring for migrants last year and $500,000 the year before. At this rate, hospital administrator Jim Dickson predicts, he'll shut down in three years, leaving the town of Bisbee without a hospital.

"The more business I do, the more money I lose," he said.

It's the same story at other border hospitals struggling to cope with record numbers of illegal immigrants sweeping through Arizona.

Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales lost $500,000 last year. Tucson Medical Center closed its trauma center because of uncompensated care. And University Medical Center in Tucson loses close to $1 million a month in unpaid care.

The century-old Copper Queen sits astride the "Naco corridor," the busiest gateway for illegal immigrants in the nation. Border agents have made 154,000 arrests here this year.

Every day hundreds of immigrants set off from Naco, Mexico, six miles from Bisbee, and head north through this ragged edge of Arizona. If they get hurt in the desert or while being smuggled in vans and trucks, they usually wind up at Copper Queen. The facility also takes emergency transfers from Naco, which has no hospital.

"The numbers are incredible," said Stephen Lindstrom, medical director at Copper Queen. "They are constantly bringing in dehydrated and injured Mexicans, but I don't think we've ever got a dollar."

A study last year by the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition examined healthcare costs in 28 border counties in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. It found they had lost $200 million treating illegal immigrants that year.

Statewide, Arizona is losing $150 million annually caring for undocumented immigrants, health officials said.

"If there is a rollover accident near the border and the nearest hospital is in Bisbee, the economic consequences can be catastrophic," said John Rivers, president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Assn. "Securing the border is a federal responsibility, and at some point they have to step up and provide a safety net for these hospitals giving care."

Congress recently set aside $1 billion to reimburse states for treating illegal immigrants. Arizona will get $40 million annually over four years starting in 2005, about one-fourth of what it actually spends.