Healthcare for Immigrants in the United States
For years, immigrants have faced many issues while trying to receive the same benefits that citizens are granted. Out of all benefits, healthcare in the United States is known to be “crooked.” If natural-born citizens face problems with the healthcare system, it is awful to hear about the issues that immigrants have to deal with.
Between the year 2017 and 2018, the percentage of people overall who were covered by public health insurance had decreased. Many people have become aware that the cost of healthcare has raised an exaggerated amount.
Immigrants do not have many options when it comes to healthcare in general. They do not qualify to apply for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) . This act helps ensure that patients who have struggled to pay for health coverage receive access to affordable healthcare. The best option for immigrants is to gain access to healthcare through their employer. However, often times the jobs that immigrants can obtain do not offer them health insurance. For example, people who work on fields almost never receive commonplace benefits. Even in the occasions in which immigrants do get healthcare coverage, their resources are very limited.
Additional Barriers
Deportation
Apart from dealing with high expenses and limited resources, there are additional barriers that immigrants face. Many of them would rather suffer and become increasingly ill rather than going to seek medical attention. The reason for this, is that patient confidentiality for immigrants has been broken several times. This issue is known to be called medical deportation. In some states medical staff, however, is legally required to check the legal status of a patient before they receive medical attention. For example, California once passed Proposition 187 in order to keep immigrants from obtaining the same resources as American citizens.
Language issues
A large population of the immigrants speak little to no English, therefore making it hard for them to communicate in public. Doctors’ visits become stressful for patients because they have a tough time trying to talk with physicians. This problem is largely with parents within immigrant families. Many children are put at risk because they miss out on the opportunity of going to get checkups because their parents feel helpless.
What Makes This a Social Issue
Conflicts between the healthcare system and immigrants cause several outcomes that make it a social issue. There are several underlying social issues that come with not having proper access to healthcare. One example is less trips to the doctors, due to limited access, can cause social issues such as obesity and mental health problems.
One of the largest issues that healthcare can be connected with is poverty. Poverty has been a huge issue in society for decades. About 17.3% of the immigrant community lives in poverty.
Another large problem that immigrants face is discrimination. The healthcare system heavily discriminates on undocumented families. Some Americans believe that if someone was not born here, they do not have a right to basic human rights. Immigrants make up 13.7% of the United States’ population. Research data has shown that the cost for healthcare is much higher for immigrant families in comparison to natural-born citizens. Other studies have demonstrated that immigrants had a higher rate of people who reported discrimination when attempting to get medical attention. Some people might argue that it should not matter how patients are being treated if medical staff is getting the job done. However, it is their duty to serve everyone with equal respect, no matter who they are.
In the end, it is important that people understand the severity of the issue between the healthcare system and immigrant families. Inequality within our society is something that needs to come to an end. Building bonds in our society is going to make our economy and entire country a better place. Immigrant families are being put in a position in which they have to deal with the fact that they might not ever be able to receive the proper care that they need. Eliminating barriers and allowing access to healthcare for immigrant families should not have to be given as a privilege, instead presented as human rights.
References
Ziv, Tal Ann, & Lo, Bernard (1995) Denial of Care to Illegal Immigrants — Proposition 187 in California. The New England Journal of Medicine, 332(16), 1095–1098.
Yu, Stella M, Huang, Zhihuan J, & Kogan, Michael D (2008) State-Level Health Care Access and Use Among Children in US Immigrant Families. American Journal of Public Health, 98(11), 1996–2003.
Lauderdale, D., Wen, M., Jacobs, E., & Kandula, N (2006) Immigrant Perceptions of Discrimination in Health Care: The California Health Interview Survey 2003. Medical Care, 44(10), 914–920.
Guendelman, Sylvia, Angulo, Veronica, Wier, Megan, & Oman, Doug (2005) Overcoming the Odds: Access to Care for Immigrant Children in Working Poor Families in California. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 9(4), 351–362.
