Arizona Hospital on ‘Very Thin Margin’ After Spending $20 Million Caring for Illegal Aliens

U.S. Border Patrol agents check for identification of immigrants as they wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico in Yuma, Ariz., on June 22, 2022. Qian Weizhong/VCG/Getty Images

An Arizona hospital is being overwhelmed with illegal alien patients that are placing a strain on medical resources and could leave the facility on the verge of collapsing, according to a top hospital official.

Dr. Robert Transchel, the president and CEO of Arizona’s Yuma Regional Medical Center, told Fox News on Feb. 5 that the hospital is owed more than $20 million in free, uncompensated care that it has provided to illegal aliens who have crossed the border into the United States.

The situation with the unpaid care fees has been ongoing at the facility for more than a year, Transchel said and is unsustainable.

Despite reaching out to city, state, and federal government leaders to communicate the issue, they are allegedly doing nothing to address the problem or help provide the much-needed funding, according to the hospital CEO.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said. “We’ve been at this for well over a year now. We tracked our uncompensated care for a period of over six months, and we calculated that we’ve provided over $20 million in uncompensated care to the migrants crossing the border.”

The Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona is the only hospital within 180 miles and saw around 4,400 more patients last fiscal year compared to the year prior, News Nation reported.

According to its official website, the non-profit hospital has 406 beds and is staffed by 2,400 employees, over 400 medical practitioners, and hundreds of volunteers.

Transchel’s comments come as the immigration crisis at the southern border continues to worsen, with roughly 5 million illegal aliens crossing the border since President Joe Biden took office, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Illegal immigrants gather by the border fence after crossing from Mexico into the United States in Yuma, Arizona, on Dec. 9, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

‘Not a Sustainable Model’

As a result of what many Republican lawmakers believe are Biden’s lax border policies, dozens of communities located along the border, such as Yuma, are now struggling with the influx of illegal aliens that are placing accommodation and food banks under stress.

Between 2021 and 2022 alone, there has been a 171 percent increase in crossings in Yuma according to CBP data. Yuma has a population of about 97,000.

County Chairman Tony Reyes declared a state of emergency in the unincorporated areas of Yuma in December amid an ongoing health and humanitarian crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border prompted by the rise in respiratory syncytial virus and influenza, as well as a continued surge in illegal alien entries.

At the time, Reyes said that local health care resources were being stressed and that a further influx of illegal aliens crossing the southern border was likely to “continue to strain the ability of medical staff and local hospital resources to provide essential and necessary medical care to Yuma residents as well as the migrant community.”

Transchel told Fox News that he has communicated with Arizona officials and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the unpaid medical bills, and that while officials have been sympathetic about the hospital’s situation, the issue has not been resolved.

That has left the non-profit hospital operating on a “very thin margin” with no payer source for illegal alien treatment.

“It’s not a sustainable model to have these continued rising expenses without a revenue source to offset that,” Transchel said. “We’re fine today, and we'll be fine tomorrow. The problem is, if this continues, it’s gonna build-up, and it’s gonna continue to be a problem.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the White House for comment.