Are you kidding me?

Yahoo News: U.S. Immigrants' Health Costs Far Below Native-Born

Countering the belief that immigrants to the United States use more than their share of health-care resources, a new study finds that just the opposite is true.

According to research released this week, data suggest that the average immigrant consumes several hundred dollars less a year in health costs, on average, than the typical native-born citizen. Most strikingly, the researchers say health-care costs for the poorest immigrant children are 84 percent below those of native-born kids.

On that front, "we found a really grave disparity," said study co-author Dr. Sarita Mohanty, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

According to Mohanty, the research team launched the study to combat the belief that immigrants take advantage of the American health-care system. "We thought there were a lot of popular misconceptions," she said.

The researchers looked at the results of a 1998 federal survey of more than 21,000 people, including more than 2,800 immigrants. The findings appear in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Mohanty's team found that immigrants accounted for an average of $1,582 in health costs per year, compared to $2,005 for the native-born. When the researchers adjusted their figures to take into account possible differences between the two groups due to factors such as age and health status, that gap widened to $1,139 for immigrants and $2,546 for the U.S.-born. Furthermore, a full 30 percent of immigrants used no health care at all in the course of the average year.

First of all, the article says that the "surveys didn't ask questions about immigration status." How many millions of illegal aliens are not represented in this "study"?

Secondly, illegal aliens are not entitled to use our health care systems, as they are not paying into them. Therefore, it does not matter how much less they consume per year. They should not be using anything. They should be going back to their own countries and using the health care systems there.

Third, "the research team launched the study to combat the belief that immigrants take advantage of the American health-care system." This means that the researchers had a bias when they started their research. They would then interpret data through their biased "lenses," meaning that this survey must be faulty.

I like to watch CSI. The investigators are always saying that they are supposed to let the evidence speak---not interpret for it. These "researchers" are doing the speaking. Who knows what the data actually says?