Determining the Cost-Effectiveness of Providing Free Prenatal Care to Hispanic Illegal Immigrants

Providing illegal immigrants with free resources using taxpayer funds is a highly controversial and hotly debated topic. While some argue that it rewards illegal immigrants at the expense of law-abiding residents, others counter that it is inhumane for the government not to provide basic resources to individuals on the basis of legal status. In my thesis I attempt to determine which solution is most cost-effective, free of political bias. Through analyzing economic data from states and countries that provide varying levels of free prenatal care to Hispanic illegal immigrants, my objective is to find which amount of free care, if any, will leave government budgets least negatively impacted.