Health care in the United States is a complex business that is always changing because of many factors such as new technology, insurance changes, and currently state involvement. The United States has the highest cost of health care in the world because of many factors such as technology, reimbursement from insurance companies and covering the uninsured patient. One class of uninsured patients is illegal immigrants in the United States that are accessing the health care system. There is debate that illegal immigrants come into the United States with the sole purpose of accessing the health care system through the emergency department (ED) at hospitals because they do not have access to the level of health care in their own country. When illegal…
Undocumented immigrants are less likely than legal immigrants or U.S citizens to have health insurance. You may ask yourself, why is that? Most of the immigrants that come to the U.S. illegal don't even have benefits owning to the fact that immigrants fear to be deported back to the place from which the individual came from. Due to those opportunities that the immigrant is not able to have, parents can't take their children to the doctors.…
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,…
Research reveals that Latinos have the highest uninsured or access to services than any other racial/ethnic group in America. Immigrants are a large and growing part of American society that is excessively low-income and uninsured. There are larger consequences for national and state efforts to improve access to health-care. Immigrants use far less medical care compared to what they represent in the U.S. population. Low-income, language barriers, unfamiliarity with local customs and culture, and legal status are a few of the reasons immigrants ' access to healthcare is impeded. Federal and state politics have restricted some immigrants’ access to healthcare creating to the already existing one. “The Immigrant Provisions of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act and the Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) have made most legal immigrants ineligible for publicly funded services such as Medicaid for the first five years of residency (undocumented have always been ineligible). Furthermore, some states can and have funded their individual intervention services”. (Derose, Escarce, Lurie.2007, pg.1259). Unresolved health issues can limit an immigrant’s ability to maintain employment, especially in labor intensive jobs. If immigrants do not receive healthcare, jobs will not keep them employed causing an avalanche of economic and social turmoil. Americans are concerned…
Derose, K. P., Escarce, J. J., & Lurie, N. (2007). Immigrants and Health Care: Sources Of Vulnerability. Health Affairs, 26(5), 1258-1268. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.26.5.1258…
there are a multitude of issues surrounding unauthorized immigrants who stay in the United States. Often times, the media likes to glorify the negative aspects of an issue to promote their own agenda and mindset. In actuality, these people aren’t hurting our economy in any way. These individuals actually account for a significant boost in the economy across the board in many ways. Unauthorized Immigrants have actually been shown to boost the wages for middle class families, do not benefit from federal welfare programs but still pay taxes, help create diversity and often are the source of the labor workforce. Illegal immigration is only negative because it has the word “illegal” attached to it. If we make it easier for these people to gain…
Do our immigration policies still honor the words written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 on the base of the Statue of Liberty, and if so, what impact do they have on our economy? The issue of whether our economy is impacted negativity or positively by undocumented workers and what should be done about it is a widely debated topic in this country right now and reported about on every form of media (news, print, social) available on a daily basis. The issue of undocumented immigration is…
There are a lot of problems towards the issues of immigration. Some of the problems are the lack of guidance for immigrants. In Occupational Attainment of Latino Immigrants In the United States, Stephanie A. Bohon states…
For many years the people of the earth have moved from location to location. This trend actually goes back thousands of years. With this common knowledge many people view immigration as natural and harmless: these people often reject those who have a different view on the issue of migration. This comes as no surprise because the United States is divided in to two sides, the Democrats (Left) and the Republicans (Right). Both sides are extremely stubborn and refuse to give any ground on coming to compromises on the issues. The Left feels as though there is not a problem with immigration. They feel that those who want to should be able to; they feel that the current immigration system is great and does the job. Some would even say that the system…
As an immigrant and a student in Health Services Research course, this article caught my attention immediately. This article specifically focused on exploring and measuring variations in the use of health care services by undocumented Mexicans and other undocumented and their experiences with health care providers. The issue of undocumented immigrants has been the center of political debates for quite some time in the U.S. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States and about 8 million are from Mexico and other Latin American countries (Passel, 2005). One of the main issues that are perceived to be caused by undocumented immigrants is the use of public services, including healthcare resource.…
“The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known… We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal. And we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words, within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture. Drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept, E Pluribus Unum: Out of many, one.” (Barack Obama- Stephen Spignesi). The founding fathers of The United States of America wanted to create a country where people from all over the world could share dreams, and be free to express themselves. Immigration reform is a very controversial topic. A path to citizenship would allow undocumented immigrants to have an opportunity…
In the United States having fake or papers that are no longer valid is just as good as having no papers at all. Without the proper documentation, you do not have access to things such as obtaining driver licenses, access to public health systems, proper housing, education, banks, and employment. There are some immigrants who forge identity documentation to obtain access to most of these basic benefits. Unfortunately, this is extremely risky and many do not take this chance in fear of being deported or being sent to immigration detention centers, where there you are stripped of your human rights and treated inhumanely. Life as an undocumented immigrant is very hard. They cannot legally work in the US, therefore not being able to provide for…
Immigrants move to the United States, looking for a better opportunity to improve on their lives. The words The American Dream, resounds in every country around the world. People understand that the United States is known for obtaining the impossible. The way of life in the U.S. is far way better than any other country because people move to the United States with very few resources and with perseverance and determination, those individuals can achieve the American Dream. The problem is when Immigrants enter the United States Illegally the American Dream becomes impossible to obtain. Illegal immigrants are an individual who crosses the border with out any form of approved documentation from the U.S. Mostly the largest of Illegal Immigrants…
Vulnerable populations include children, the elderly, the homeless, those with chronic health conditions, economically disadvantaged, the racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and refugees. Vulnerability may arise from community, individual or larger population challenges. Immigrants have been identified as a vulnerable population, but there is heterogeneity in the degree to which they are vulnerable to inadequate health care. Factors that affect immigrants’ vulnerability, including socioeconomic background; immigration status; limited English proficiency; federal, state, and local policies on access to publicly funded health care; residential location; and stigma and marginalization. Overall, immigrants have lower rates of health insurance, use less health care, and receive lower quality of care than U.S.-born populations; however, there are differences among subgroups. Policy options for addressing immigrants’ vulnerabilities. Limited English proficiency is also likely to affect the quality of care immigrants receive; for instance, immigrants with limited proficiency report lower satisfaction with care and lower understanding of their medical situation. Those who need an interpreter but do not receive one fare the worst, followed by those who receive an interpreter and those who have a language-concordant provider or speak English well enough to communicate with the provider. Immigrants’ vulnerability can also be influenced by whether an immigrant’s U.S. residence is in a traditional or new destination for immigrants. New destinations are less likely than established destinations to have well-developed safety nets, culturally competent providers, and immigrant advocacy or community-based organizations. Latinos in areas with relatively small Latino populations rely more on emergency departments (EDs) for their care than do Latinos in areas with relatively large Latino populations, and physicians in communities with small Latino…
In this paper I will discuss how the United States needs a new immigration policy that is based less on wishful thinking and more on realism. Spending vast sums of money trying to enforce arbitrary numerical limits on immigration that bear no relationship to economic reality is a fool’s errand. We need flexible limits on immigration that rise and fall with U.S. labor demand, coupled with strict enforcement of tough wage and labor laws that protect all workers, regardless of where they were born. We need to respect the natural human desire for family reunification, while recognizing that even family-based immigrants are unlikely to come here if jobs are not available. And we need to create a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants who pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants who are already here so that they can no longer be exploited by unscrupulous employers who hang the threat of deportation over their heads.…