Health Care For Migrant Populations : Strategies For Health Systems

     Illegal immigrants usually hold jobs that have bad conditions and worse pay.  Oftentimes, these jobs are found in sectors such as agriculture, construction, food-handling and manufacturing (Dwyer).  Unfortunately for the illegal individuals who acquire these jobs, they have no access to comprehensive health care, though their line of work tends to demand it.  Although illegal immigrants are consequently strapped for cash, many of them will not visit primary care physicians for fear of being deported.  This sets up a vicious cycle: individuals get sick yet ignore the signs.  When illnesses get remarkably worse and are too severe to treat at doctors' offices, the individuals then go to emergency rooms, where the cost is considerably greater.  More often than not, the immigrants cannot afford to pay their hospital bills.  The cost is then covered by the medical institutions and tax-payer dollars (Wolf).  While some argue that illegal migrants do not

Financial barriers to access health care are common in a low-income family when they are uninsured or underinsured. Many uninsured and undocumented immigrant received federal and state health care coverage. Latinos and African American are the ethnicities that are disproportionally get affected. Limited access to a doctor when they are sick, taking non-prescribed medication and holding off recommended treatment is only some of the problems they encountered (Carrillo et al., 2011).

In an article that looked at the immigrant healthcare needs of the United States, Dudas (2012) found that

The Affordable Care Act is designed to increase access to inexpensive health care coverage, but the law omits one group of people from advancing: the nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants presently existing in the United States. The high costs of health care and the loss of health insurance coverage are two significant long-term challenges that provoke many Americans. These problems are particularly severe for migrants in the United States, who have predominantly low rates of health insurance coverage and poor access to health care services. Once settled in the country, many migrants face a lifetime of change and acculturation.

Beside the genetic and life style that are individual determinants of health, there are many other factors -known as social determinants of health- which are varies even for the people who are living in the same society. They are defined as “social, cultural, environmental, and political factors that can affects the health of individuals” (Rumbold & Dickson-Swift, 2012, p. 40). This assignment will discuss the influence of one of the social determents of health, accessing to health services on health of a specific target group; refugees and migrant population in Australia. The Refugee Convention 1951 defines refugees as ‘‘persons outside their country of origin who are unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social, or political opinion’’. Australia receives about 12,000 refugees each year. This population faced many difficulties in accessing to health services such as cultural and

Whether legal or illegal, when migrating from their homeland, regardless of their individual circumstances, immigrants face a number of challenges en route to, and upon arrival into the United States. It is common knowledge that immigrants face language barriers, basic cultural differences, emotional isolation, prejudice and discrimination upon their arrival into the United States. Dr. Jean Rhodes points out that due to their exclusion from public services, [undocumented] immigrants typically settle in areas of deep poverty plagued with inadequate services in addition to substandard living conditions and schools (2005). However, the most difficult and detrimental issue they face is their access to receiving public health care. In his 2003 article in the American Journal of Public Health, Jeffrey Kullgren points out that many of the undocumented immigrants in

In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, these 81 million residents are responsible for 5% of the labor force of the United States, the same work force that provides wage gains for native born Americans (Greenstone). Even with a prominent population, the struggles of immigrants go unheard. One such struggle that is silent among the voices of the nation are an immigrant’s struggle with mental health, and the limited accessibility to help asylum seekers have available. While it may seem to some that mental health of a non-citizen is not a responsibility of the host nation, it is actually true that the security of health is a right for all regardless of legal status because of the ethical, social and economic responsibilities we hold as a single human race.

Language barrier is a significant obstacle to obtaining healthcare. Many hospitals lack trained interpreters and rely on interpretation by bilingual staff or even the children of patients. Another barrier is the inability to afford health insurance. Nearly one-third of Latinos (30.7 percent) lack coverage. Another barrier stems from cultural

There are many immigrants that come to the United State to start a new chapter in their life. However, they might develop health issues later and have to see a physician to be treated. “Immigrants have limited access to

Legal barriers. Access to medical care by low-income immigrant minorities can be hindered by legal barriers to public insurance programs. For example, in the United States federal law bars states from providing Medicaid coverage to immigrants who have been in the country fewer than five years.

Migration for Mexican immigrants has not always been easy. Having to face the threat of deportation on a daily basis, the stress of acculturation, and coping with an unfamiliar territory has not intimidated nor defeated this population as they seek a better quality of life. As history would have it, the Mexican population not only makes up a large number of immigrants that live in the United States, but they have also contributed to and molded the culture that is seen in North America today (Zong & Batalova, 2016). A main element that has constantly created a roadblock for Mexican immigrants is their inability to access healthcare which has proven to have many negative outcomes on their livelihood.

The decline in immigrant health status over time can be attributed to the acculturation process (Singh & Siahpush, 2001; Akresh, 2007)This hypothesis implies that culture that initially induces better health outcomes and lower mortality rates among immigrants begins to erode as immigrants acculturate and adapt to the negative health behaviors and lifestyles within the host society (Akresh, 2007; Angel, Buckley, & Sakamoto, 2001).In addition, the literature stresses other factors, such as: lack of access to the health care system (Abraído-Lanza, Chao, & Flórez, 2005), stress associated with migration (Newbold & Danforth, 2003; Biddle, Kennedy, & McDonald, 2007; Dean & Wilson, 2010), exposure to racism and anti-immigrant discrimination as well

“Uninsured Refugee denied basic health care in Canada: Doctors” is an online news article about people with refugee status being denied of healthcare. Health care is a fundamental basic human right that should not be denied. This article was written by The CTVnews.ca Staff and published in The CTV NEWS online news article on June 21, 2013. This article has a video attached to it that shows the victims denied healthcare in Canada.

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

All people, including immigrants, should have health care coverage from the countries’ government based on their income, household members, and occupations. People have a lot of stress in their daily lives because of health problems and the high expense of health care especially for who are care about a future. Many immigrants who cannot afford health insurance go to work even if they are sick and not feeling well. If they go to a hospital, they have to pay for the medicines and fees themselves, on top of possibly losing money by not working. There are many people have the problem, health care declining, have a difficulty pay for following reasons.