Written by by Mary Chastain at legalinsurrection.com
The Denver Health system is on the verge of collapse due to the influx of illegal immigrants.
The system lost around $2 million in 2023.
From The Denver Post:
In 2023, Denver Health provided about $136 million in care that it didn’t receive compensation for, CEO Donna Lynne told the Denver City Council’s finance and government committee last week. That figure includes care to people covered by Medicaid when the rates the program paid didn’t cover the full costs, she said. About $100 million of that went to people living in Denver.
One-time donations of $5 million from the state and $10 million from Kaiser Permanente Colorado helped to narrow the gap. Typically, hospitals make up their uncompensated care through the higher rates they can charge private insurance, but patients with private coverage account for less than 15% of all those seeking care at Denver Health, which is lower than most hospitals in the area.
Denver Health cut costs last year by closing 15 beds that could be used for patients needing psychiatric or addiction treatment, reducing the raises it had planned as a way to retain employees, and postponing renovations on its oldest clinics, Lynne said.
Lynne added: “What I think is not being said is that Denver Health is at a critical, critical point, and that we need to take this up in 2024. Because our costs exceed our revenues, we are turning down patients every day, particularly in the area of mental health and substance abuse.”
Denver has only received 8,000 illegal immigrants in the last year and 36,000 since December 2022.
They have made around 20,000 visits to Denver Health seeking help for “dental emergencies, mental health counseling and childbirth.”