Illegals Push Native-Born Little Old Ladies and Children Out of Their Hospital Beds

Ronald Bailey | March 7, 2007

That's what some nativists would have you believe. Similar, but less extreme claims, are made by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) who asserts :

While illegal immigration isn’t generally the first thing Americans think of when they think about health care, it has a significant impact on the cost, availability and quality of health care available to Americans.

Significant? A short item in the March/April issue of Foreign Policy (not available online) based on a Rand Corporation study takes look at the claim. The FP notes that U.S.-born residents make up 86.9 percent of the population; legal immigrants 9.9 percent and illegals 3.2 percent. Their respective shares of healthcare spending are 91.5 percent, 7 percent and 1.5 percent.

Based on that data, the FP concludes: "You can no longer argue that illegal immigrants are an excessive burden on U.S. healthcare."