If you're web-only reader impatiently waiting for the Strib's print-only feature on hospital debt collections to go online, check out this New York Times front-pager on our own Hennepin County Medical Center.

Part of the national paper's "Remade in America" immigration series, the 2,600-word story details the heartbreaking link between Somali torture and chronic maladies, and the sheer cost of treating legal and illegal immigrants. The hospital spends $3 million on translators; foreign-born patients account for $100 million of the $500 million in yearly costs; and immigrants are a "major contributor" to $45 million in unreimbursed expenses.

As Strib reporter Chen May Yee notes in her piece, insured and uninsured patients left $601 million in unpaid bills at local hospitals last year, forcing hospitals deeper into the collections business.

Neither paper makes the connection to Gov. Pawlenty's newest proposal to slash hospital reimbursements, though the Minnesota Hospital Association calculates (PDF) forecasts another $409.5 million in unreimbursed costs, plus another $172 million in reduced General Assistance Medical Care, some of which reduces reimbursements for hospital-related GAMC care.

Since the governor released his updated plan March 17, there hasn't been a good media examination of its effects. (If I've missed it, send me the link.) I'm sure the outpatient-first plan has some sensible parts. Still, it's hard to read the Times piece without ruminating how legitimate expenses best picked up by states and nations will instead be borne by cities, counties, and innocent victims — as well as hospitals who are fairly and unfairly castigated for doing the bill collecting no one else will.