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.