Denial of Prenatal Care Will Increase Taxpayer Burden

Recently, Gov. Pete Wilson announced his administration will cut off funding for prenatal care services to undocumented immigrant mothers in California. The implementation of this policy will block treatment to these mothers until the very onset of labor. The administration contends the cutoff will save California $69 million during 1996-97 that otherwise would cover the prenatal care for 70,000 undocumented mothers.

The problem with the governor’s policy is that it fails to account for the long-term costs associated with premature and unhealthy babies. In fact, what they are advocating actually will result in higher costs to the taxpayer, more premature babies and higher mortality rates. In addition, the policy overlooks the fact that children born to undocumented mothers are automatically U.S. citizens, and as citizens they are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage.

Governor Wilson based this policy on his assumption that undocumented immigrants come to Orange County to access social services. Yet according to a recent UC Irvine study, the reason undocumented immigrants come to Orange County is for the job opportunities, not the social services.

Providing prenatal care to undocumented workers is not only sound health policy, it’s also sound fiscal policy that saves taxpayer money. For every $1 spent on prenatal care, another $3 is saved during the first year alone in costs due to postpartum complications and poor health.

For example, the average hospital cost in California for 1990 to cover a premature baby with major complications was $17,145, while the average cost to cover a full-term baby with a complication-free delivery, including prenatal care, was $2,667.

Today, studies show the costs for care of a baby born prematurely can range from $20,000 to $100,000. If a premature baby suffers a permanent disability, the lifetime costs for care could reach $500,000.

In addition to increased costs to the taxpayer, the elimination of prenatal care shifts an impossible burden to the hospitals, community clinics and nonprofit organizations of Orange County. These agencies will bear the brunt of providing uncompensated care to mothers and their children who did not receive any prenatal services.

Here in Orange County, 6,213 babies were born during 1994 to undocumented mothers on Medi-Cal. Prenatal programs like the one at Planned Parenthood provide prenatal care services, nutritional counseling, screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and testing for HIV/AIDS. These vital services will be lost to undocumented mothers when this policy commences. Although Planned Parenthood does not condone illegal immigration, we remain true to our mission to provide the entire community with critical, cost effective health services.

The elimination of prenatal care will not impact the overall problem of illegal immigration, nor will it save taxpayer funds. Instead, it will force mothers to give birth on the island of last resort, our local emergency rooms. The shift to the emergency room deliveries will put our entire community at risk through delays in treatment due to overcrowded emergency rooms.

The medical community recognizes the value of prenatal care for mothers. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the California Medical Assn., the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the California Assn. of Public Hospitals, the California Academy of Family Physicians, the California Children’s Lobby, the California Health Care Assn., the California Primary Care Assn. and the Latino Coalition of a Healthy California all agree the elimination of prenatal care for undocumented mothers would create an unnecessary health care crisis.

Public policymakers should instead concentrate on ways to improve access to standard prenatal care.

Let us not forget, today’s healthy babies are California’s future labor force, its business owners and its taxpayers. I can only wonder why we would choose to punish our future citizens with unnecessary suffering simply based on where their mothers were born.