"This will shock you, I know.
"Well, probably not, unless you are an advocate of the whole “sanctuary” phenomenon, which is based on the idea that kindness alone will suffice to ensure that opening the doors to every Tom, Dick, and Harry will turn out well for everybody.
"Denver isn’t exactly flooded by illegal immigrants by today’s standards. Only 36,000 have come through the city in the past couple of years, out of the 8-12 million Biden has been letting flood through the southern border.
"Yet still the city’s health care system is on the brink of collapse. Denver Health has been reducing the number of beds available and turning patients away because they have been providing over $130 million in uncompensated care to migrants.
"It turns out that the money isn’t unlimited, but the demands for it are.
Denver Health came close to breaking even last year after receiving millions of dollars in one-time donations, but executives say the safety net hospital needs more support if it’s going to continue operating as it has been — let alone meet the needs of Colorado’s mental health crisis and an influx of migrants.
The health system still is calculating its final 2023 numbers, but it appears Denver Health lost about $2 million last year, said Dr. Steve Federico, chief of government and community affairs.
Denver Health had ended 2022 about $35 million in the red, and the most recent year would have been significantly worse without a cash infusion of about $20 million from the state, Kaiser Permanente Colorado and private donors, he said. . . .
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