Essay on Importance of Undocumented Immigrants Access to Affordable Health Care

The obstacles and challenges undocumented immigrants face are and will continue to be of paramount importance, concerning the impact on these individuals, and on human health in general (Goodman, 2015).Undocumented immigrants are defined as individuals that are foreign nationals or noncitizens/aliens who reside in the country without legal documentation of residence (Lunder & Siskin, 2016). Undocumented immigrants have a strong reliance on safety nets, which are social welfare programs such as healthcare that provides benefits to individuals who fall short of being able to afford healthcare. The paper is important since it examines policies that exist in regards to undocumented immigrants accessing welfare benefits.

There are several issues with the current practice in the U.S. that negatively affect illegal immigrant's accessibility to healthcare, for example, the Affordable Health Care Act. Everyone in the U.S. currently deals with issues stemming from costly health insurance coverage as well as the possible disintegration of health insurance coverage. Because everyone is faced with these issues, they are especially dire for undocumented immigrants, who have little to no rates of coverage in conjunction with lack of access to healthcare service in general. Undocumented immigrants face an uphill battle in trying to gain access to healthcare because of the costs and the possible termination of health insurance coverage.

With the increasingly high rates of migration to the U.S., policies are being implemented that negatively affect the access to healthcare, to discourage undocumented immigrants from coming here. This is extremely problematic because, without health insurance, one cannot get services; a single trip to the emergency room could prove to be extremely costly. It leads to undocumented immigrants not being financially able to access healthcare. The ACA, and other policies, limiting access to health insurance is the most utilized method of healthcare exclusion. Hacker goes on to state, "Because insurance was required for affordable care or required to receive services at all, these laws effectively barred access to care" (Hacker et al. 2006).

The topic examines the cost of both the government and the undocumented immigrants, for example, the high cost of the necessary documentation to receive services, which leads to avoidance of health services, and consequently causes a multitude of issues in and of itself. First, not only does this prevent undocumented immigrants from getting services when necessary, but it also affects their children when they need services, regardless of if they're illegal immigrants or not because their parent's do not have the necessary documentation. Undocumented immigrants not utilizing the healthcare system is not only problematic for them but could also have an effect on the rest of the population particularly with communicable diseases, for example. Goodmans article shows the contrasting statistics; Goodman demonstrates these costs when he says, Medicaid enrollees use the emergency room about 40 percent more than the uninsured". The obstacles and challenges undocumented immigrants face will continue to be of paramount importance, in how it influences them and human health in general (Goodman, 2015).

In conclusion, the topic is crucial to outlining policy formulation that includes all stakeholders. Excluding undocumented immigrants is not only costly to immigrants themselves but could have other costs, which are mostly indirect, to the indigenous/native population. The paper not only outlines the strength of current policies in place but also points loopholes that are within the framework to guide in decision-making.

References

Siskin, A., & Lunder, E. (2017). Retrieved 4 October 2017, from

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43561.pdfReferencesStuck between Health and Immigration Reform Care for Undocumented Immigrants NEJM. (2017). New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 4 October 2017, from

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1306636#t=articleHacker, K., Anies, M., Folb, B., & Zallman, L. (2017). Barriers to health care for undocumented immigrants: a literature review. Retrieved 4 October 2017, fromhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4634824/#b9-rmhp-8-175Why Immigrants Lack Adequate Access to Health Care and Health Insurance. (2017). migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 4 October 2017, from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/why-immigrants-lack-adequate-access-health-care-and-health-insurance

Siskin, A., & Lunder, E. K. (2016, October 27). Treatment of Noncitizens under the Affordable