Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PAUL KANITRA
District 10 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Illegal Alien Healthcare Transparency Act; requires health care facilities to inquire and report on immigration status of patients and to report certain costs of care.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning health care facilities and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The act shall be known and may be cited as the Illegal Alien Healthcare Transparency Act.
2. a. The Department of Health shall require each health care facility licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) to inquire about the citizenship or immigration status of each of the health care facilitys patients.
b. Each licensed health care facility shall submit a monthly report to the department on the citizenship and immigration status of the health care facilitys patients and the health care facilitys monthly cost of care provided to illegal aliens. Any data and information contained in the report shall be in aggregate form and the report shall not contain the personal identifying information of any patient. The department shall make each report publicly available on the departments Internet website.
c. It shall be unlawful for any patient to knowingly and willingly make a false statement or representation of a material fact concerning the patients citizenship or immigration status in any document or electronic transmission necessary for a health care facility to complete an inquiry on the patients citizenship or immigration status pursuant to subsection a. of this section.
d. Any person who violates the provisions of subsection c. of this section shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
e. As used in this section, "illegal alien" means an individual who resides in New Jersey, but who is unable to produce documentary evidence to show that the individual is lawfully present.
3. The Commissioner of Health may adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the Illegal Alien Healthcare Transparency Act. This bill requires health care facilities to inquire and report on the immigration status of patients.
Under the bill, the Department of Health will require each licensed health care facility to inquire about the citizenship or immigration status of each of the health care facilitys patients and to submit a monthly report to the department on the citizenship and immigration status of the health care facilitys patients and the health care facilitys monthly cost of care provided to illegal aliens. Any data and information contained in the report will be in aggregate form and the report will not contain the personal identifying information of any patient. The department will make each report publicly available on the departments Internet website.
The bill makes it unlawful and a crime of the fourth degree for any patient to knowingly and willingly make a false statement or representation of a material fact concerning the patients citizenship or immigration status in any document or electronic transmission necessary for a health care facility to complete an inquiry on the patients citizenship or immigration status.
Presently, the United States collects some data on the use of emergency healthcare services by illegal aliens. However, there is a lack of transparency on the full cost of healthcare being utilized by illegal aliens. It is the sponsors belief that having more data on the healthcare use of illegal aliens would assist New Jersey in computing the actual cost of illegal aliens use of government services.