Affordable Health Care Case Study

In the United States there are nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants that are denied affordable access to healthcare (Rosen, 2012). In 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) with the intention to expand economical healthcare to the millions of uninsured residents across the United States. However, this law excludes undocumented immigrants from receiving health insurance from the Marketplace, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (D’Emilia & Suplee, 2012). The exclusion from the Marketplace, Medicaid and CHIP for undocumented immigrants furthers the gap of accessible healthcare as they are ineligible for governmental aid even though the foreign-born population has higher rates of poverty, lower education levels, and lower rates of health care coverage compared to U.S. born residents (Edward,
This healthcare disparity in the U.S. accounts for 3.7% of the general population positing profound effects on individuals, families, and communities within and without the foreign-born population (Hilfinger Messias, McEwen, & Clark, 2014). As this exclusion has such profound effects it is morally irresponsible for a nation to exclude them based their citizenship status. While undocumented immigrants have failed to follow the rule of law, disallowing them affordable access to healthcare is denying them basic human rights to life, protection, public service, and medical care; therefore, policy reform is necessary, not simply policy reform within the healthcare sector, but rather, overall immigration reform to slow the influx of undocumented immigrants and create a pathway to permanent citizenship for current undocumented