Father in kidney failure granted deportation stay for transplant

[iolaire]

Yet another family primarily comprised of US citizens is torn apart by jack booted thugs - luckily with help of many he will be able to get his transplant from a donor before he is deported.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/father-kidney-failure-granted-stay-deportation-death-sentence/story?id=55892484
"I don't want to be dramatic about it, but I'm taking the case because if I don't, he could die," Formica said. "There's a real irony in this case. Just a little bit of discretion, just a little bit of humanity, and he lives, he gets a kidney transplant from a private donor paid for by the private health insurance he has through his wife. His kids keep a father. Or, he gets put onto an airplane and goes back to Honduras and presumably doesn't survive. His kids are without a father, and it's a tragedy. The whole thing is kind of absurd."

[MooseMom]

What would Jesus do?

[Jean]

Is he a citizen or just his kids? And his wife??

[iolaire]

Is he a citizen or just his kids? And his wife??

He is not a citizen, the rest of his family are citizens.

[kickingandscreaming]

I guess only citizens have the right to live.  Ah, such generosity of spirit!

[Jean]

I wonder why he did not get his citizenship if he has lived here long enough to have children, I really think he should have planned ahead.

[MooseMom]

I'd like to hear more about how his wife's private insurance is paying for his dialysis since he obviously doesn't qualify for Medicare.

As for why he is not a citizen or why he is here illegally, in this particular case, is that really what is important here?

[PrimeTimer]

Is his wife's insurance going to pay for the transplant? Really? Does his wife's insurance know that they would be paying for an illegal alien's transplant? How does that work? I wonder what legal consequences, if any, the insurance company may face for covering someone here illegally. Is he currently on her policy, has she declared him on her taxes as a dependent? Just think, this could open a can of worms for other insurance providers if other people ask what this couple is asking for. 

[MooseMom]

Is his wife's insurance going to pay for the transplant? Really? Does his wife's insurance know that they would be paying for an illegal alien's transplant? How does that work? I wonder what legal consequences, if any, the insurance company may face for covering someone here illegally. Is he currently on her policy, has she declared him on her taxes as a dependent? Just think, this could open a can of worms for other insurance providers if other people ask what this couple is asking for. 

I was wondering the same thing.  Those are all good questions, but as usual, news articles such as this don't provide all of this sort of information.

But again, it is not morally right that we are discussing insurance and money instead of discussing the fact that deporting this man would deprive him of his life, his wife of her husband, and children of their father.

The truth is that some laws are just bad laws.  We need immigration reform, but our government is still stalling.

[iolaire]

I don’t understand why one’s immigration status would matter for insurance someone paid for?  I realize how someone might prefer to let others die before the patient gets the benefit of US tax dollars but not why that matters in a clear commercial transaction?

I do worry strongly about the lack of compassion in this country.

[Bill Peckham]

I don’t understand why one’s immigration status would matter for insurance someone paid for?  I realize how someone might prefer to let others die before the patient gets the benefit of US tax dollars but not why that matters in a clear commercial transaction?

I do worry strongly about the lack of compassion in this country.

I wish to support and associate myself with these remarks

[PrimeTimer]

I wonder if the wife's insurance company required proof that they are married or that the husband is her dependent and (as proof) not being claimed on anyone else's taxes as a dependent because some insurance companies do require this. I can guess that one reason they require proof is to safeguard themselves against fraud. Otherwise you might have a lot of people adding friends, neighbors and yes, loved ones here illegally on a policy. Despite him being here illegally, if the wife's insurance company is willing to pay for his transplant as part of her policy, then great. But if that's the case, I can't help but think there will be a lot of people demanding the same thing of their insurance company. And then what about car insurance? Home insurance? It could go on and on. And what would employers (in the case of employer-issued insurance) do? Would they allow it too?

[Jean]

His situation really raises a lot of questions. I read all the statemenst of how hard hearted we are to not give him his surgery. I dont think it's a matter of  being hard hearted.  I feel sorry for the man, and his family, but where do you stop?? He is a law breaker, and he is illegal. Why did he not get his citizenship??? He had to have known better. If you allow his surgery then you have to let a whole bunch of people back into the states, and who is paying for this. MOST likely, we are.!!!

[PrimeTimer]

His situation really raises a lot of questions. I read all the statemenst of how hard hearted we are to not give him his surgery. I dont think it's a matter of  being hard hearted.  I feel sorry for the man, and his family, but where do you stop?? He is a law breaker, and he is illegal. Why did he not get his citizenship??? He had to have known better. If you allow his surgery then you have to let a whole bunch of people back into the states, and who is paying for this. MOST likely, we are.!!!

I noticed in the picture that it looks like he has a fistula on his arm. The band-aids may indicate a recent dialysis session. That's good that he is getting dialysis here. I don't know that he'd get regular if any dialysis in his own country. If he gets a transplant I wonder how his anti-rejection meds will be paid for and all his follow-up testing. Again I bring up the issue that if the wife's insurance company pays for this as part of her policy, I would expect many other insureds will demand the same from their insurance companies for their loved ones, illegally here or not.

[MooseMom]

I don’t understand why one’s immigration status would matter for insurance someone paid for?  I realize how someone might prefer to let others die before the patient gets the benefit of US tax dollars but not why that matters in a clear commercial transaction?

That's the question.  DOES one's immigration status matter for insurance someone paid for?  I really don't know!  I would think that most ins cos would happily accept premiums from any and everyone, but when it comes to PAYING claims, I am assuming (maybe falsely) that one's status could be used as justification for denial of coverage.  I had an individual private policy for one year when I first moved back to the US, and when I had to make a claim, the insurance company dragged their feet and just made up reasons to deny my claim.  They actually ended up demanding to see my green card/visa/immigration papers; they suddenly decided to assume that since I had moved back to the US, I wasn't a citizen or something.  It was so bizarre.  Anyway, dealing with health insurers is NEVER a "clear commercial transaction.

I do worry strongly about the lack of compassion in this country.

Yep.  That's putting it lightly.  What has happened to us?

[PrimeTimer]

This CNN article shows the issue of eligibility is nothing new. It also brings up eligibility based on immigration status.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/28/news/economy/healthcare_dependent_audits_crackdown/index.htm

[MooseMom]

Thanks for the link, PT, but the article itself doesn't address immigration status, rather, it concentrates more on who exactly can be defined as "family".  Besides, the article is 8 years old, and it would be nice to see some updated information.

I did find this, however, which was interesting but not all that informative as it pertains to one case and not to an overall norm.

https://www.us-immigration.com/us-immigration-news/us-immigration/organ-transplants-and-immigration-laws/

You'll see that the article states that allowing the transplant would actually save the insurance company money; we all know how expensive dialysis is, especially if it is paid for by private insurance instead of Medicare.

I should point out two things, however.  This article is 6 years old, and it must be clear that this website is NOT affiliated by any government agency (as clearly stated at the top).

If an illegal immigrant who is a father and husband to US citizens gets a transplant that is paid for privately and is furthermore supplied by a living donor, why should we be so outraged?  I'm certainly not!  The medical bods are being paid, a family stays together...what's to complain about?   

[MooseMom]

Another article, this one from the Chicago Tribune, from Dec 2014 that suggests that each state might find its own solution.  What caught my eye was that I was originally listed at Rush.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-immigrant-kidney-transplant-law-met-20141226-story.html

[PrimeTimer]

The man broke the law and entered the country illegally. And despite being assigned a court date he failed to comply and not start the application process towards citizenship. And now here it is, thirty years later and yet, he is still out of compliance, still here illegally and now that the law has caught up to him, he's afraid of dying from kidney failure before having a chance at citizenship. I wonder if this man were given the gift of life and receive a kidney, would he treat it as the gift it is and attend all his follow-up appointments and testing and be diligent with taking his meds or, would he treat it like he did the application process to become a legal citizen? I would assume that any transplant team would have the same concerns. In that respect, he might not make a good candidate. A lot of red flags, a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of concerns.

[lulu836]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THAT^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[iolaire]

So lets say a citizen breaks the law (or is non compliant) does that mean they should never be able to buy commercial insurance?

[Simon Dog]

So lets say a citizen breaks the law (or is non compliant) does that mean they should never be able to buy commercial insurance?

Flawed analogy.

The law that the illegals break it what is allowing them access to the US market.

So, to answer your question, if the citizen who breaks the law would not be eligible for commercial insurance but for his/her breaking of the law, (s)he should not be able to buy it.  If the person was eligible to buy insurance without having broken the law, breaking the law should not remove his/her ability to make the purchase.

As to "good candidate" for follow up care.  This should be a non-issue in a directed live donation, provided the transplant team fully and accurately describes the risk of lack of follow up care to both the donor and donee.  It would be a valid issue if a kidney from the pool were being used and giving this person a kidney meant someone else did not get one.

And finally, persons illegally in the US should not be granted access to the cadaver pool unless there is an organ no legal wants.

[MooseMom]

Yes, illegal immigrants CAN buy private medical insurance, but it may not necessarily always be available.

http://www.personalhealthinsurance.com/can-illegal-immigrants-buy-health-insurance/

[MooseMom]

Did you all know that there are "anchor babies" born in the US to Russian mothers?  I had no idea.  I thought anchor babies were a bad thing.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/birth-tourism-brings-russian-baby-boom-miami-n836121

[Simon Dog]

There are businesses in California that specialize in hosting pregnant upper middle class Chinese who arrive on a tourist visa, and stay in a birthing house until they drop a kid who gets US citizenship.   The difference from illegal immigrant anchor babies is that these mothers take their kid back to China, along with the US birth certificate, knowing that it "will come in handy later in life".