Mexican Immigrants Not Burdening ERs, Study Says

Fewer than 10% of recent Mexican immigrants -- whether they came in legally or not -- reported using an emergency room in 2000, according to the study, based on an analysis of the U.S. National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2000 by a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Recent immigrants were defined as people who had been in the United States for fewer than 10 years.

In contrast, 20% of U.S.-born whites and Mexican Americans used an emergency room during the same time period.

"The study breaks a lot of the myths

"Even though they are in the most risky occupations, they are not using the emergency rooms as other populations are."

The finding is also significant because recent Mexican immigrants -- who often work in construction or agriculture -- are more likely to require emergency care for accidents or illnesses, Castaneda said.

The issue resonates in Los Angeles County, where officials estimated in 2003 that caring for illegal immigrants who seek emergency and follow-up care costs the county $340 million annually. That has caused consternation among public officials and opponents of illegal immigration.

Some of these opponents were skeptical of the study's results. Hospitals in largely Mexican immigrant areas might see disproportionate effects, said Susan Tully, a national field director for the Federation of American Immigration Reform.

Tully added that the report doesn't take into account how much hospital emergency rooms are paying for treating illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrants are not only coming into the emergency room for stitches, she said, but for major operations.

"Come back and show us the people they studied and the dollar amount of services that the illegal immigrant population received" for emergency care, Tully said, and compare that with how much was spent on the same proportion of U.S. citizens.

Thursday's findings, however, dovetail with another study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health, which found that, on average, immigrants receive substantially fewer healthcare services than U.S. citizens.