How To Avoid Illegal Immigrants

Contrary to this, others believe that illegal immigrants threaten the United States HealthCare System, Madeline Pelner Cosman stated, “In 1994, 74987 anchor babies in California hospital maternity unit cost $215 million and constituted 36 percent of

For many illegal aliens, seeking healthcare is undermined by the fear of being deported. Many would rather suffer through an illness or injury than seek care for fear that they will be sent back to Mexico. Unfortunately, but the time that they finally get to a point where it is absolutely necessary to obtain care, the cost of that care has become a much larger figure than it would have been had they obtained care sooner.

     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

A key goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to decrease the number of uninsured individuals, many of whom are in low-income families and are minorities (Kaiser Family Foundation 2016). Under the ACA, immigrants who are in the U.S. legally are eligible for coverage through the health insurance marketplace but undocumented immigrants are not (HealthCare.gov) even when using their own money to purchase. There are estimates of 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the country as of 2014 (Krogstad, Passel, & Cohn 2016). It is estimated that California was home to more than two million undocumented immigrants in 2013. In 2016, California passed SB 10, a bill that would require the California Health Benefit Exchange, which facilitates the enrollment of qualified individuals into health plans, to apply to the United States Department of Health and Human Services for a waiver to allow individuals who are not eligible to obtain health coverage through the Exchange because of their immigration status to obtain coverage from the Exchange (California Legislative Information). This paper will explore California’s SB 10 legislation, its purpose, and how it will seek to serve its undocumented immigrant population and their health needs.

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).

There are several arguments spotlighting the effect of illegal immigration on current rising health care cost. To this point, illegal immigrants and elected representatives across the country are unable to deny the increased costs placed upon the backs of American taxpayers due to the rise in health care and health care insurance cost. A bill initiated in Indiana will demand local hospitals create a report regarding the costs associated with treating illegal immigrants. Additionally, on a countrywide level, there is an ongoing endeavor to push illegal immigrant children toward federally funded Children’s Health Insurance by the governing body which in turn will effectively raise the current tax rates for all Americans. As an alternative, some policymakers are trying to use creative language in order to guarantee that illegal immigrants were blocked from obtaining health care services (Maxwell & Adolfo 324). For undocumented immigrants within the United States, acquiring health related services or care systematically increases the cost for American taxpayers across the board. Health care providers, Health care insurance companies and both the state and federally supplemented health care funds ( i.e. Medicaid) are forced to close the gap on the negative revenue return by increasing cost of services due to the excessive use and write off of public health care funds and services by illegal immigrants.

What the illegal aliens want are jobs that will potentially give them a higher wage in comparison to the country they came from. To effectively weigh whether providing health care to immigrants should be considered a right or privilege, one would have to consider how much they contribute to economic growth. A Pew study from last year showed that undocumented immigrants add 600,000 to 700,000 new consumers to the economy every year. Since consumption makes up 70 percent of economic activity in the U.S., this is important (and of course, more consumption means more sales tax revenue). Immigration is also expected to account for one-forth of the Census Bureau’s estimated labor force growth through 2012. Some economic estimates gauge that undocumented immigrants contribute $22 billion, in total, to the economy each year—a number that would increase if they were given the opportunity to become legal (Karvounis, 2007). This evidence suggests that illegal aliens are actually giving back to the nation by doing all of the dirty, low-income jobs and are only using approximately $11 billion in health care and they are contributing about $22 billion a year to the economy. Although these illegals only using half of what they give, they contribute more then what they use.

In the area of healthcare, the influx of illegals has proven to put a huge burden in all areas of the system. In California over the last decade many hospitals and emergency rooms have closed due to the illegals being treated there and not being able to pay the bills from the hospital. Right now, California out of the 50 states is last in the number of emergency rooms per million people (Jones, 2012, #6.). The insurance premiums for citizens keep increasing because when the illegal’s go to an emergency room

“Under Obama’s 2012 and 2014 executive actions, which would make temporary immigration reprieve available to up to 5.2 million undocumented immigrants (about 45 percent of the undocumented population), their state and local tax contributions would increase by an estimated $845 million a year once fully in place”.( Pianin).That means if the federal government support undocumented immigrants by providing health coverage to them is like supporting this country’s

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” Although misread and misunderstood, it is understood that if a child is born on U.S. soil, that child is a U.S. citizen. More than 300,000 “anchor babies” are born in the United States every year. In 2003 in 70 percent of the 2,300 babies born in San Joaquin General Hospital were anchor babies. Illegal female immigrants flock to the U.S. to have their babies delivered in our hospitals. They do not pay the medical bills and because their babies are U.S. citizens, the child is immediately eligible for welfare. In 1994, approximately 75,000 anchor babies cost California hospitals $215 million. Anchor babies now account for half of all Medi-Cal births. It’s this type of abuse that has led to hospitals going out of business. (Cosman, 2005) California isn’t the only state where illegal immigrants anchor themselves through the delivery of a baby on U.S. soil. This goes on all across the country, and they cannot be

Many pregnant immigrant women are illegally coming into the country just to have their babies. These women get free medical attention for themselves and the baby. This is costing the U.S. millions of dollars every year.

It is estimated that between 287,000 to 363,000 anchor babies are born a year, and there could be countless more because hospital workers can not inquire of patients' legality. California provides free natal care and delivery to all pregnant mothers no matter of citizenship and it costs the state 215.2 million dollars a year. Californians voted to end the program, but at the state government session, the president of Mexico provided an argument to strike the vote down.

But for the rest of the population substantial disparities still exist. This problem not only affects the uninsured population and the communities they live in, but the entire nation's economy. Dozens of hospitals in Texas, New Mexico Arizona, and California, have been forced to close or face bankruptcy because of federally mandated programs requiring hospitals to provide free emergency room services to illegal aliens. Safety net hospitals continue to operate under a heavy burden of providing care to this largely uninsured population (Torres, Steven, & Wallace, 2013). Having access to healthcare is a necessity in maintaining the good health of these undocumented immigrants. Several solutions have been proposed to overcome the barriers affecting undocumented immigrants. One solution would be to expand the coverage of the Affordable Health Care Act for this population. Another solution would be to approve an amnesty bill to alleviate the undocumented immigrants' situation in the United Sates, which would allow them to access public health

County Hospitals that are already underfunded to provide indigent and uninsured care for citizens are also providing health services for the immigrants. Local Law Enforcement and City and County jails deal with those immigrants that break the law and are having to absorb those costs until they can be handed off to Federal Immigration services for deportation.

In 2009, out of all immigrant households, legal and illegal, with children (under 18) 57 percent used at least one welfare program, compared native households with children that came in about 39 percent. Fifty-two percent of households with children headed by legal immigrants were estimated to used at least one welfare program in 2009, compared to 71 percent for illegal immigrant households with children. Illegal immigrants generally receive benefits on behalf of their U.S.-born children. Due to low education levels more than half of the working immigrant households with children still accessed the welfare system during 2009 (Camarota). Cutting down on the amount of immigrants into the country can help to increase benefits for American citizens. This includes but is not limited to: food assistance, Medicaid, cash assistance, and public and subsidized housing.