Parkland Memorial Hospital plans to bill Mexico and other countries to help cover the costs of health care for indigents. The plan, which also seeks payments from adjoining counties in Texas, has brought a negative response from the Mexican government, with a diplomat terming it "an act of discrimination."
"We should get be able to get treated for free"
Last year, hospital officials said, Dallas County spent $76.5 million to treat people from outside Dallas. Of that, almost $27 million was not reimbursed. Much of the cost was for treating patients from adjoining counties in Texas, which Dallas County officials claim is unfair to local taxpayers.
yep
Collin County, just north of here and one of the state's richest counties, owed the most of any single entity, Parkland officials said -- about $7.6 million. County Judge Margaret Keliher said she was not hopeful that other counties -- or countries -- would pay up. But, she said, the county commission thought the matter should be made public and bills sent. "If you're not Dallas County residents, we think where you are from should pay for your indigent health care," Judge Keliher said.
Hugo Juarez, a consul official at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, was visibly perturbed.
STFU
| Diplomats often bridle when their rank hypocrisy is pointed out publicly ... |
Lobbyists and county officials last year tried unsuccessfully to get the Texas Legislature to come up with a law that forced counties to reimburse those hospitals that took in large numbers of indigents. "What's wrong with sending them a bill?" commission member Maurine Dickey said. She said officials "hoped" the counties that sent their citizens to Parkland would pay something. "We owe it to taxpayers to at least try."