As the government shutdown focuses attention on the continuity and cost of healthcare, one quietly persistent factor is coming to the fore: Emergency Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants, particularly for childbirth.
Nearly 4 million babies are born in the United States every year. While insured Americans shoulder significant out-of-pocket costs, taxpayers collectively pay billions more to cover emergency care for those living in the country illegally. The current budget fight has intensified scrutiny of these programs, exposing the stark differences in what families pay depending on their immigration and insurance status.
For American citizens with insurance, the average out-of-pocket cost for a vaginal delivery is about $3,400, with cesarean sections slightly higher. In contrast, a single uninsured birth can exceed $30,000—sometimes surpassing $50,000 in complicated cases.
### Emergency Medicaid: A Critical Lifeline
Emergency Medicaid fills this gap for undocumented mothers, who remain ineligible for most other Medicaid services. It covers labor, delivery, and immediate postpartum care, at a total cost to taxpayers of roughly $2 billion a year.
“Under federal law, all states are required to provide some Emergency Medicaid services for illegal aliens who meet the income and other eligibility requirements,” says Michael Capuano, director of research at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). “This includes prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care for pregnant women, which are all classified as emergency medicine.” He adds that this structure “places a significant strain on our hospitals and drives up costs for everyone else.”
### Hospitals and the Cost Burden
Hospitals are often the first to feel the strain. Legally obligated to treat anyone in an emergency regardless of immigration status, when those patients cannot pay, hospitals turn to Emergency Medicaid reimbursements or absorb losses themselves. Nationwide, hospitals report more than $40 billion in uncompensated care annually.
“Emergency Medicaid births contribute to uncompensated care burdens, straining hospitals that pass losses to private insurers through inflated charges,” explains John Thomas, managing director of NestPoint Associates. “Ultimately, it hikes premiums for insured Americans by 1 to 2 percent annually. Every day, families end up subsidizing care for undocumented births—it’s a hidden tax on citizens.”
According to FAIR’s 2023 study, births alone accounted for more than $1.5 billion a year in taxpayer-funded hospital expenses. “Uncompensated expenditures, which include emergency treatment for illegal aliens not covered by Medicaid, were well above $20 billion in 2023,” Capuano notes. “More than $8 billion of that was due specifically to illegal aliens.”
### A Narrow Lifeline and a Public Health Shield
Supporters of Emergency Medicaid argue that the program is both a legal and moral necessity—a safety net that prevents the healthcare system from collapsing under even higher costs. Without it, hospitals would be forced to provide childbirth care without any reimbursement.
“Emergency Medicaid spending reimburses hospitals for emergency care they are obligated to provide to individuals who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements,” says Drishti Pillai, director of immigrant health policy at KFF. “Without Emergency Medicaid, the costs of care would be shifted to hospitals or fully to states.” She notes that while labor and delivery account for a disproportionate share of Emergency Medicaid costs, they make up “less than 1 percent of overall Medicaid spending.”
Public health experts warn that denying care would not prevent births—it would only make them more dangerous. States that offer prenatal coverage for undocumented women have seen reductions in premature births and neonatal intensive care stays, both of which carry far higher long-term costs.
According to data cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a premature birth can cost up to 12 times more than a full-term delivery, underscoring the economic logic of preventive access.
“Prenatal care is one of the best returns on investment in public health,” Pillai explains. “When mothers receive early care, both maternal and infant complications decline and the overall system saves money.”
### What the Numbers Show
Even supporters admit the classification of pregnancy as an “emergency” is a technicality. As Capuano explains, all pregnancies are categorized that way for funding purposes under 42 C.F.R. §440.255(b)(2), the Federal Medicaid regulation that defines the limited healthcare services available to certain non-citizens.
Hospitals are paid an average of $10,000 to $13,000 for deliveries under Emergency Medicaid, compared with $18,000 to $26,000 for privately insured births. Because Medicaid reimburses less, hospitals often lose thousands per birth.
“The gap—up to $8,700 less per birth—means hospitals absorb losses while private plans pay fuller freight,” Thomas says. “It’s a raw deal that fuels higher premiums for citizens footing the bill.”
Michael Baker, director of health care policy at the American Action Forum, notes that emergency coverage is limited to acute care and constitutes a small part of the overall Medicaid budget.
“Emergency Medicaid comprised a mean of 0.4 percent of total Medicaid expenditures at a mean cost of $9.63 per resident,” he states. “States with larger undocumented populations had greater spending, but even then, it averaged less than 1 percent of Medicaid budgets.”
Baker also points to tax contributions by undocumented immigrants as an often-overlooked offset.
“Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022,” he says, citing analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Most of that, $59.4 billion, was paid to the federal government. They also contributed $25.7 billion to Social Security and $6.4 billion to Medicare programs they are barred from accessing.”
### The Human Equation
Beyond the spreadsheets lies a human reality that policy cannot easily quantify. Each Emergency Medicaid birth represents a new life—usually a U.S. citizen child—and a mother whose options were limited by circumstance. Advocates argue that cutting off care would only deepen the crisis, forcing hospitals to provide the same services without reimbursement.
“Federal law allows states to get Medicaid matching funds for care necessary to treat an emergency medical condition, which explicitly includes emergency labor and delivery,” Baker explains. “It does not confer ongoing coverage.”
For critics, the issue is fairness—citizens paying rising premiums are indirectly footing the bill for those who entered the country unlawfully.
“Citizens wait in lines or pay higher bills while illegal entries get a free pass on emergency deliveries,” Thomas says. “It’s absolutely unfair, rewarding lawbreaking at taxpayer expense.”
For others, the issue is humanity and pragmatism.
“Cuts to Emergency Medicaid will produce minimal overall cost savings and will disproportionately harm states with large undocumented populations,” Baker counters. “Safety-net hospitals and clinicians caring for immigrants could be hit much harder by the cuts.”
As Pillai sums up, “These births are happening regardless. The question is whether we pay more later for preventable complications or pay less now to ensure safe outcomes for mothers and babies.”
https://www.nysun.com/article/a-medicaid-dilemma-who-should-pay-the-bill-when-an-undocumented-woman-gives-birth-in-america