Collection Agency Challenges Local Government on Immigrant Medical Debt

by Patrick Lunsford &
Mike Bevel,
CollectionIndustry.com

Jerry Curtis, President and CEO of Burt & Associates, has put Mexico on notice. Like, the whole country.

The Texas-based collection agency announced Tuesday that it is proposing an aggressive response to a $15 million medical shortfall that Curtis attributes directly to undocumented and uninsured immigrants.

According to Curtis, the seeds for the scheme were sown when Judge Margaret Keliher, a Dallas county judge, went on a national radio talk show. During the interview, she lamented the fact that illegal and uninsured Mexican immigrants were abusing Dallas county’s Parkland Hospital to get medical services. These services range from emergency room attention to ongoing pre- and post-natal care. The patients have walked away, leaving Dallas-county residents holding their medical bills. Over time, Curtis says the total bad debt has ballooned to well into the $15 million range.

Curtis alleges that a large portion of the $15 million debt is attributable directly to illegal immigrants. And, as Curtis sees it, who better to pay the bill than the government of the country from which the majority of immigrants are coming: Mexico.

?It?s not often that you get to tell a sovereign government to pay its debt. But that?s exactly what (we want to do),? said Curtis.

Curtis wants the local government to take action to collect what he sees as a legitimate debt. And if they can?t find a way to compel Mexico to pay up, then he believes his company can help collect the debt.

When asked directly, Curtis admitted that the proposal was meant mostly to ?light a fire? under what he considers an unresponsive government rather than the next official item on his to-do list.

Hispanic and Latino immigrants aren?t all from Mexico. And it is not clear from Curtis or Burt & Associates how they propose to segregate Mexican immigrants from those arriving from South America, Central America, Cuba, etc.

Still, Curtis feels the proposal is not entirely hollow. Burt & Associates believes it has the required expertise in collecting government debt. Curtis told CollectionIndustry.com yesterday that the firm has even dunned another country for payment of an outstanding commercial debt in the past, and that they got the government to pay. Curtis wants to use his diplomatic and government contacts to uncover the appropriate channels to collect the medical debts from Mexico.

?We don?t see why this wouldn?t work,? Curtis said. ?This is a business issue, not a political one.?

It still remains to be seen how effective a private collection agency would be in collecting, or even proving, medical debts from a country that are tied to that nation?s illegal immigrants. A call to the State Department seeking official clarification on the matter was unreturned as of press time.