American's Immigrant Population Access To Healthcare example essay topic

Given the massive change in government as a result of the creation The Department of Homeland Security and the consequent reorganization of the United States government structure concern for the Immigration and Naturalization Service is great. Under the George W. Bush Administration, not only is the Immigration and Naturalization Department being moved, its budget has increased 5,423% from last year's budget to $28 billion. 1 As a result of the September 11, 2000 attacks and the inflow new immigrates, United States government and policy is focused on immigration. Federal, state and city government must define policy that provides immigrant populations with access to affordable, quality health care. Central to this policy must be the emphasis on affordable healthcare alternatives to the expensive emergency room.

For the purpose of examining the issue of healthcare provision for the United States immigrant population, this paper will use articles, journals, surveys performed by non-profit organizations and governmental sources to illustrate the need for better access and quality healthcare for US immigrants. Currently, immigration policies at the federal level are changing on an everyday basis. As the Immigration and Naturalization Service undergoes a severe transformation, it is unclear as to how these administrative and policy changes will affect our constituents. While it is still too early to estimate the degree of impact that these changes will have on our constituents with immigration related issues, we can certainly take a closer look at exploring better ways to build a stronger connection with the immigrant community in the 18th District. This issue of lack of access and boundaries to quality affordable health care has become an issue that the American Public must deal with direct. Over the course of the last year and a half, I have had the opportunity to work with a United States Congresswoman on issues related to health and immigration.

The elections of 2002 brought new congressional district into existence and brought with it new public areas and new concerns to research and serve. My task was to reach the Westchester County's immigrant issues and health issue. As redistricting takes place with the exclusion of Queens and the Bronx, and the addition of Rockland County, my research focused on the immigrant community in Westchester County, more specifically, the Spanish-speaking community in the County. Demographic information from the 2000 Census indicates that the Hispanic 4 population in Westchester County makes up 16 percent of the total population, while the minority population makes up 36 percent of the overall population.

Interestingly, within the last ten years, the Hispanic population has increased 67 percent, and the three communities with the largest Latino population are all located in the 18th District. These are the City of Yonkers with 50,852, the City of New Rochelle with 14,492 and the Village of Port Chester with 12,884. Furthermore, the Latino population in the communities designated in my geographic areas is at follows, Ossining Village has the fifth highest Latino population at 6,654, while Briarcliff Manor, Sleepy Hollow, and Tarrytown, are at 241, 4,153, and 1,793 respectively. 4 Indeed, as the Latino population grows within the County increases, so too do the challenges and pressures put on the County to provide healthcare to its entire popu A recent conversation with Martha L'opez, Program Administrator for Westchester County's Office of Hispanic Affairs, provided important insights as to the challenges facing the Latino community. Surprisingly, it is not a specific social issue affecting this community, but instead, they are prolonged hurdles that many immigrant communities face, in particular cultural and language barriers.

This is clearly seen with the uneven growth between the rapid increase of the immigrant Hispanic community and the slow development of the programs and services that can assist this community. Furthermore, the Office of Hispanic Affairs, composed of one person, is clearly not adequately staffed to connect the Hispanic Community with the programs and services that are available for them. It is my thought that the unfilled gap creates a perfect opportunity for Congresswoman Lowey to reach out to her Spanish-speaking constituents and to provide information, agency referrals, and / or services needed to this population. As Westchester County's immigrant population is very similar to the United States' immigrant population, it and the larger United States represent an opportunity for positive, constructive and needed reform. Therefore, I suggest Congresswoman Lowey take this opportunity to create effective public policy and service that realizes away to better connect immigrant communities to healthcare resources and services. This disconnection between health care programs and service is illustrated throughout the rest of this paper on the national level.

Because the immigrant population is not able to access health care and State and local governments are not able to handle the rising cost of providing immigrants with health care, healthcare provision is an issue facing not just the Westchester community, but also the whole of the United States. Immigrants make up 13.1 percent of the population, 26.1 percent of insured of population and 59 percent of the growth in the uninsured population between the years of 1994 and 1998.2 Michael Antonov ich, Los Angles County Supervisor, stated "Taxpayers simply cannot afford to be the HMO... to the world", and it spend $2 billion annually on services for illegal immigrants. 3 This statement shows, local governments are concerned with the current with trends of the money being spent on immigrant health care. The ability to access healthcare for has been limited by welfare system reform. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) cut the American's immigrant population access to healthcare greatly. Before PRWORA most qualified immigrants could receive Medicaid, all undocumented individuals could receive emergency care.

After PRWORA these basic treatments were removed from the immigrant population. 5 Pre-PRWORA states had the right to deny immigrants access to social services such as Medicaid and CHIP, and emergency treatment only included childbirth. 6 Presently, prenatal care is no longer included as a possible healthcare service for immigrants. Because they it limits access to healthcare services, PRWORA is a major hurdle for many immigrants in terms of healthcare.

As immigrant population in the United States lack healthcare and cannot afford the cost of healthcare, they receive poor or inappropriate healthcare. Latinos immigrants are 14% more likely to report they are uninsured than White immigrants are and 21% more likely than Blacks. Negative feelings about social service programs, such as Medicaid, have been created by the way individuals are treated. One Dominican immigrant from New York "It's awful, it's awful, because when you go to one the centers, they treat you like you " re an animal; they don't treat you like a human being". 10 Such treatment creates negative perceptions and experiences about social programs. These negative feelings decrease the number of individuals who actually seek healthcare assistance for themselves and / or their family.

As many Latino immigrants have difficulty financing healthcare expenses, economic hardship is significant to the healthcare and US immigrants. High healthcare expenses discourage individuals from seeking needed medical assistance. One in five Latino immigrant state they or a member of their family has not received medical care during the year, because of the cost of treatment. Of 20% that postponed treatment, 44% never sought care for their aliment.

11 The study also found that 48% of Latino immigrates said their medical bills had a large effect on their families economic standing. It has been stated repeatedly that primary care treatment is less expense than emergency care and that the medical outcomes are a great deal more productive. Once have actually overcome the hurdle of accessing healthcare, oftentimes they are now faced with a communication barrier. These communication barriers exist between all levels of healthcare providers and immigrant people. Human Health Secretary, Tommy G. Thompson, announced the creation of a bi-lingual healthcare hotline called "Su Familia". 12 This hotline allows members of the Latino immigrant population to connect with over 16,000 bi-lingual healthcare providers to help manage chronic diseases.

13 These are the types of steps and programs needed to change statistics. Especially the statistic that 30% of Latino immigrants state communication with providers is a negative factor in the quality of healthcare they receive. One study stated that 27% of individuals, who classified themselves as needing an interpreter, said they did not understand the directions for their prescription. 14 Another 7% of this of group stated there were no directions given for consuming medication.

15 This percentage might appear to be small, but in comparison with the 2% of individuals from the two other classifications, who had problems understanding their medication instruction, these percentages are rather significant. 16 In 200 August of 2000 an executive order was issued to remind physicians and hospitals, who receive federal funds, that they must provide qualified interpreters under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.17 In response providers claimed they could not pay for interpreters, that the amount they are reimbursed does not increase and the amount of time they spend with a patients doubles. In essence healthcare costs rise, but government policy and capital support do not rise accordingly. The healthcare system must find away to reimburse providers, who choose to serve and provide federally required interpreters to improve the effectiveness of the visit. It is essential for the United States healthcare system to re-evaluate and re-assess the way it allows and encourages access, the quality of care provided and how it communicate with immigrant population that has consist of 32 million individual born outside the United States' boundaries..