Standing by their statistics

New American, The, Dec 11, 2006

A November 15 article in the Los Angeles Times reported on a Rand Corporation study claiming that "healthcare for illegal immigrants between the ages of 18 and 64 cost American taxpayers $1.1 billion in 2000--or about $11 per household." Relatively little in the whole scheme of things.

Jim Smith, the Rand economist who authored the study, said that he wanted to "put some facts" into the immigration debate. The article ends with commentary by Margaret Laws, a director of the California HealthCare Foundation: "Until now, she said, the only sources of information on the costs of caring for illegal immigrants have been anecdotal reports. 'Short of hospitals collecting and reporting data in a way they don't now, there is no other way to measure this.... It is the best thing we have.'"

But the Rand study isn't the "best thing we have." And it is itself completely "anecdotal." Smith based his results on a single questionnaire completed by 2,543 adults in Los Angeles County. This particular questionnaire, as acknowledged, "was not specifically aimed at determining healthcare costs." It also does not account for differences between its results and credible estimates such as those done by the Center for Immigration Studies, which place the costs of care for illegal immigrants far higher. And it fails the "common-sense test."

The study indicates that illegal immigrants are generally not going to doctors for "check-ups" but for treatment of illness and injuries, yet the average cost for each of the estimated 10 million adult illegal immigrants in the country (figuring in Rand's estimate of money spent on insured illegals and of out-of-pocket expenses) is supposedly just over $178 per year, while care for the average American is almost $6,000 per year, according to economist David Cutler.

The article makes a point to say that "illegal immigrants tend to see doctors less frequently than citizens do," but it fails to mention that their care is often for treatment of physical injuries acquired from doing manual labor or from violence--expensive care. In the end, both Rand Corp. and the Los Angeles Times seem to be trying to lead the immigration debate in a manner as to allow continued massive immigration, not add "some facts" into the debate.