CNN.com (Undocumented immigrants on dialysis forced to cheat death every week)
-Elizabeth Chinery, Junior Community Outreach Coordinator
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/02/health/kidney-dialysis-undocumented-immigrants/index.html
Lucia, a 51-year-old undocumented immigrant and mother of five who suffers from kidney failure (specifically end-stage renal disease), is forced to wait for her condition to reach LIFE-THREATENING medical emergency status before being able to receive dialysis treatment since she does not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare and cannot afford private medical insurance or the out-of-pocket costs of the expensive treatment.
On the financial side, the article states that:
“A 2017 study conducted at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that the cost of treating undocumented immigrants with emergency-only hemodialysis is 3.7 times more expensive than caring for them with standard dialysis three times per week [due to the fact that] patients like Lucia are so much sicker and require more care by the time they come in for treatment”
Therefore, in terms of cost, it is VERY financially advisable and, in terms of patient wellness, EXTREMELY advisable for the government to prioritize early treatment, however, it chooses not to. This is a case that reveals medical bias against individuals who are undocumented and the life-threatening situations many (in this case, approximately 6,500 undocumented immigrants with the same disease) must endure on a frequent basis due to medical laws and policies that work against them.
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