In 2023, a Denver hospital system informed the city that it faces extremely difficult challenges, the likes of which it has never experienced in the past, due to the migrant crisis that happened under the watch of former President Joe Biden. Denver Health CEO Donna Lynne said that the center is looking at unexpected costs due to visits and treatment for illegal immigrants and as a result, has come to a critical juncture.
“What I think is not being said is that Denver Health is at a critical, critical point and that we need to take this up in 2024,” Lynne said in a statement delivered to the Denver City Council in 2023. As a result of the lack of action taken by Biden to stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants during his administration, the hospital ultimately closed a total of 15 beds, reduced raises for workers, and postponed needed renovations after losing $2 million the previous year.
“Because our costs exceed our revenues, we are turning down patients every day, particularly in the area of mental health and substance abuse,” Lynne said. In 2023, a total of 8,000 illegal migrants from Central America accounted for a stunning 20,000 visits to the hospital system. Denver Health asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide funds to help cover the medical costs for the migrants.
However, the state and federal governments didn’t reimburse the hospital, which ultimately spent $136 million for patients who did not pay for treatment. “While I have tremendous compassion for what’s going on — it’s heartbreaking — it’s going to break Denver Health,” Lynne added.
Lynne requested council members increase the amount of financial support from the city. She made appeals to other counties for assistance, but with little luck. City Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer said that Denver can’t cover the cost of patients who don’t pay since some of those who were seen reside in other cities.
“For an additional million, or an additional $10 million, what investments can we make in our community?” Denver’s deputy chief financial officer Stephanie Adams asked at the time, according to WPDE. “Not that it’s not worthy to provide additional money to safety net hospitals – there’s just no additional thing that we get.”
State Rep. Judy Amabile (D-Boulder) sponsored a bill at the time which would commit the state of Colorado to providing financial support for Denver Health every year to the amount of $5 million. “I think the city of Denver should do more, but the state also has to step in,” Amabile pointed out, according to the report. “Denver Health is the safety net provider for the whole state. They’re taking patients no one else will take.”
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Republicans noted that many of the issues Denver Health were facing was due in large part to the open border policies of the Biden administration and former Colorado congresswoman Yadira Caraveo. “Yadira Caraveo’s radical, open-borders agenda is now costing her constituents potentially lifesaving medical treatment, as Denver deals with the fallout of Caraveo and her party’s out-of-control migrant crisis,” CLF Regional Press Secretary Maureen O’Toole went on to say about the situation.
Featured image: screenshot from embedded video