The pandemic gave Americans a lesson in scarcity. Consumers fought over toilet paper, hand soap, and other items they had long taken for granted. One cannot buy a non-existent roll of Charmin at any price.

We had the energy crisis of the 1970s when finding gasoline was hard. Americans somehow survived the 1983 shortage of Cabbage Patch Kids. Never forget the Shopping War of 1996 when a shortage of Tickle Me Elmo dolls had adults brawling in Walmart or spending thousands on black market Elmos.

When Americans cannot find health care in a timely fashion, or at any cost, we have a shortage that means life or death. Though not widely understood, America's healthcare crisis is nothing more than a supply-demand imbalance, with demand outpacing supply.

By numbers, the healthcare shortage looks like this:

— More than 40% experience "longer than reasonable" wait times for care, with half giving up, based on a survey by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

— One-third of doctors do not accept Medicaid patients, leaving millions without timely care.

— Veterans wait an average of 38.9 days for primary care at community-based clinics.

— A worsening physician shortage "is already limiting care for millions of people across the country," says the American Medical Association.

— "The nursing profession continues to face shortages due to a lack of potential educators, high turnover, and inequitable workforce distribution," says the National Library for Medicine.

— The United States will be short 90,000 physicians next year and 124,000 in 10 years.

— The American Hospital Association reports a nursing shortage of about 1.1 million.

— The average wait time to see medical specialists can exceed 100 days — long enough for cancer to go from harmful to deadly.

— Only 34.69% of Colorado's mental health patients receive care, which results in homelessness, addiction, and suicide.

With demand for healthcare exceeding supply and no resolution in sight, the last thing we need is more demand for healthcare. Yet, that's exactly what we get each time a foreign immigrant crosses the southern border and takes a bus or plane to Colorado.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been sending loads of illegal border crossers to New York, Chicago, Denver, and other cities that long ago declared themselves sanctuaries for immigrants.

No one should blame Abbott or any other border state governor who shares immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers with the rest of the country. Border states cannot alone provide for the needs of a historic wave of illegal immigrants, each of whom needs food, shelter, clothing, and health care.

Colorado taxpayers spent $73 million in 2023 under a state program called OmniSalud, which allows illegal immigrants access to the Colorado Option insurance plan through the Colorado Connect program.

The state expects the program to cost another $73 million this year, bringing the total cost to $146 million and about $6,600 for each immigrant. Expect the cost to continue rising, as there is no end in sight to the border crisis and the onslaught of immigrants.

It is a safe bet that Colorado's 300,000 uninsured residents — people who have lived here and paid taxes for years — don't get $6,600 a year in health care assistance from the government.

Paying the medical costs of illegal immigrants does not establish more health care for all who need it. This practice merely rations what we have. It takes health care from Americans and long-term taxpaying residents and gives it to foreigners who broke the law to come here and compete for what we have.

The Gazette Editorial Board

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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