SAN DIEGO-The American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new policy paper released on April 7 that any discussion about national health care needs to take into account the huge number of immigrants without access to health insurance coverage or who face other barriers to accessing health care.
The paper, released at the ACP's annual Internal Medicine meeting, outlined challenges immigrants experience in obtaining health care such as lack of funds to pay for services. Furthermore, "they may face the additional barrier of being fearful that seeking medical attention may lead them to be reported to authorities," said J. Fred Ralston (right), Jr., MD, FACP, president of ACP, in a prepared statement.
Though immigration, both legal and undocumented, is a hot-button issue in the United States, it's an issue that isn't going away any time soon. For example, a recent report from the United States Department of Labor showed individuals of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity represented 15 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2010.
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The DOL further predicted that, by 2018, Hispanics would represent 18 percent of the labor force. The report also noted that Hispanics are more likely than either whites or blacks to be employed in the private sector.
Given such trends, ACP is calling for the a health care immigration policy on health care to include:
- A national policy to cover this issue, as individual state laws result in a patchwork system inadequate to address this complex problem.
- The idea that taxpayers should not subsidize health insurance coverage for illegal immigrants, while people should not be prevented from paying out-of-pocket for health insurance based on immigration status.
- The same access to health coverage and government-subsidized health care for U.S.-born children of parents who lack legal residency as any other U.S. citizen.
- Acknowledgement of public health risks associated with undocumented persons not receiving medical care due to concerns about criminal or civil prosecution or deportation.
- Federal government support for safety-net health care facilities and offsets for costs of uncompensated care provided by these facilities.
- Acknowledgement that health care professionals have an ethical and professional obligation to care for the sick; immigration policy should not interfere with the ethical obligation to provide care for all.
- Policies that do not foster discrimination against a class or category of patients in the provision of health care.
- Better control by the U.S. concerning who is admitted, and to differentiate its treatment of those who comply with the law in establishing legal residency from those who do not.
- The understanding that any policy forcing undocumented residents to return to their countries of origin could result in severe health consequences for affected persons and their family members. This, in turn, could create a public health emergency resulting in enormous costs to the health care system, including costs associated with correctional health care during periods of detention.
"Any national immigration policy will need to balance the legitimate needs and concerns to control our borders and to equitably differentiate in publicly-supported services for those who fully comply with immigration laws and those who do not," Dr. Ralston acknowledged in his statement.
"However, access to health care for immigrants is crucial to the overall population of the U.S. We all have a vested interest in ensuring that all residents have access to necessary care."
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