Introduction After an arduous journey Maria Guadalupe Rodolfo Robles came to the state of Colorado to live illegally with relatives. Maria speaks very little English and relies on the translation of family members. After living in the country for a couple of months she began to develop a pressure ulcer on the bottom of her heel. Maria Guadalupe spent the next 6 months in-and-out of Denver Health’s Emergency Department. Eventually, her pressure ulcer turned necrotic and she became very ill. Sometimes, Maria Guadalupe spent time as an inpatient fighting serious infections. Over and over her condition would stabilize and she would be discharged. Ultimately, Maria needed a wound care specialist. She was on track to lose either her foot or her leg below the knee. As for now she bounces in out of Emergency Rooms getting the only treatment she can. Situations like Maria’s have become fairly common here in the United States. In 2014, Pew research estimated that there are 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States (Krogstad & Passel). In 1986, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) made it possible for unauthorized citizens to qualify for Emergency Medicaid. Moreover, any hospital which is eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements is required to treat ANY patient with emergency medical treatment (Sultan). Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), hospitals could also receive reimbursements for patients who those who needed non-emergent
Maria Niceforo, a 75-year-old woman receiving in-home nursing care, had died of infection due to numerous pressure wounds (Le May, 2016). She was admitted to the hospital presenting with a bleeding pressure wound across her back and legs that had penetrated through the bone (Le May, 2016). It was also observed that the wounds were soiled with urine and dried faeces (Le May, 2016). She was receiving in-home support from registered nurses, who according to her son, were not consistent nor reliable in their care of Mrs. Niceforo (Le May, 2016). Another contributing factor to her death was inadequate communication and documentation of her treatment (Menagh, 2016). For example, one of the nurses had reported not providing treatment to Mrs. Niceforo's bottom as she was not aware of it (Menagh, 2016). I was quite
Illegal immigrants can usually only obtain coverage for emergency care, but for many, by the time the emergency is over, there may be days left in the hospital or follow up care that is not covered. These services typically go unpaid and result in a monetary loss for the hospital and provider. An extraordinary amount of loss has caused facilities to close their doors because they simply cannot continue to operate in a state of loss.
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.
In 1986, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted. The federal government enacted the law to provide everyone with access to emergency medical care, even for those unable to pay. EMTALA declared that any individual who enters a “qualifying hospital” is entitled to an “appropriate” medical examination to determine if an “emergency medical condition” is present. The individual cannot be “transferred” until the “emergency medical condition” is “stabilized.” Only if the individual cannot be “stabilized,” an “appropriate transfer” may be performed. Hospitals must accept
Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of America back 500 years ago in the year 1492. Were he and his crew the first illegal immigrants in America? The land was occupied by another group of people that didn’t grant these explorers the right to have whatever they please without acquiring some kind of legal status. The topic of legal status might have been irrelevant back in those days but it surely is an issue that is widely talked about in today’s America. The issue of illegal immigrants has been a hot topic especially when it comes to discussing whether these people should be allowed to have health care provided by a government that doesn’t recognize their
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).
The United States has had an immigration issue for many years that serves some people, practically enslaves others and causes many others to get angry. Of course, this issue concerns illegal immigration and legal Hispanic farm workers. The population who is best served by the influx of workers are the farms in the central valley of California and other areas that use these individuals to harvest crops. The workers in the United States illegally are in constant fear of being discovered, and they are often exploited because of their immigration status. Legal citizens are, in large part, angry with the situation because of the cost incurred by so many people entering the country and not contributing to the tax burden imposed on citizens of the country. The issue for this paper though is what type of healthcare women in this situation are getting, and whether it is sufficient. This paper contends that this population is underserved for many reasons, and this group was chosen for that reason. One solution is to develop a cultural competence by understanding the population's culture, how they see healthcare workers, and to determine what their healthcare needs are.
The film showed that some health care providers might mistreat patients because they do not have insurance. Also, they do not have the means to pay their expensive health care bill. The emergency room is the least effective in caring for undocumented immigrants and people in general. Much less, it does not provide an effective way in managing individual health care needs. The film also showed that undocumented immigrants may be afraid of reporting mistreatment from hospitals and employers because they are concerned about being deported.
EMTALA is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act that was developed in 1985 as part of the Title IX of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act that went into effect in the year 1986 (Sara Rosenbaum, 2012). EMTALA was developed after an article was published in 1986 that documented how Cook County Hospital in Chicago was receiving patients that were “dumped” there that were unemployed, minorities, and lacked health insurance (Singer, 2014). This problem also occurred in 1983 in Dallas where over 200 patients were transferred between hospitals that were not stable (Singer, 2014). EMTALA is under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services and was developed to address the needs of Americans
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted in 1986 as a part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985. EMTALA was enacted to prevent hospitals with Emergency Departments from refusing to treat or transferring patients with emergency medical conditions (EMC) due to an inability to pay for their services. This act also applies to satellite locations whom advertise titles such as “Immediate Care” or “Urgent Care,” and all other facilities where one-third of their patient intake are walk-ins. Several rules and regulations to this act have been established and it has become a very serious piece of legislation and health
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was born in Jalapa, Veracruz Mexico, on February 21, 1794. He belongs to a “criollo” middle class family. His parents were from Spain. He was a Mexican politician and military leader who was President of Mexico eleven times from 1833 to 1855. He was president officially six times, and unofficially five more. He was also a disastrous president of Mexico because he lost Texas and much more of the current American west in the United States. However, by far he was an important figure of his generation in the Mexican history. Many people love him during his first years of president, and he was remembered for two major conflicts, the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 during the Texas Revolution, and as a restored Mexican leader during the Mexican-American War in 1847 (tshaonline.org).
As expected, the U.S. born children of the aliens that outstay their visas or illegally cross the borders receive multiple health benefits as they burden hospitals with many unpaid bills. As per The Wall Street Journal, the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center “estimates that about 7.5% of all U.S. births per year (300,000) are to illegal immigrants”. Consequently, “Medicaid alone paid about $2.2 billion last year to partially reimburse hospitals for unpaid illegal alien delivery bills…” (Hayes). Medicaid is funded by health insured taxpayers, and these unpaid costs
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
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) passed in 1986 and it requires hospitals to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. It further stated Participating