Health care for illegal immigrants?

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They are two of the hottest topics in this year”™s election ”“ health care and immigration ”“and together they are sparking serious debates. Some Americans say that people who are in this country illegally should not reap any kind of benefits, while others say they are willing to work with illegal immigrants to become citizens and give them access to the same rights as legal citizens.

The Business Journal asked Joel Seligman, president and CEO of Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco to weigh in on this topic.

Q: Should we provide health care for illegal immigrants?

Seligman:

“In this country, everyone should have access to quality health care. There should be universal coverage that would assure all people access to care. Hospitals and health care providers should be reasonably compensated for caring for undocumented immigrants. Ideally this would be through a single payer system organized by the government.

For several reasons, providing health care to all members of our community is in everyone”™s best interest. As shown in many other countries, universal coverage removes barriers to prevention and early intervention, thereby limiting the natural progression and spread of disease. While universal coverage will add some cost, the net cost will be offset by eliminating the enormous investment that is wasted on arguing about coverage, eligibility, pre-existing conditions, claims denials and appeal processes. None of these costly processes provide any care to any of our patients, and most of them could be completely eliminated.”

What do you think?

Log on to www.westchestercountybusiness.com/corneroffice and give your take.