Immigrant Health Care Research Articles

Hurdles to health: immigrant and refugee health care in Australia

Refugees and asylum seekers face a number of barriers to accessing health care and improved health status. These include language difficulties, financial need and unemployment, cultural differences, legal barriers and a health workforce with generally low awareness of issues specific to refugees. Importantly, current Australian government migration and settlement policy also impacts on access to health and health status. An adequate understanding of these 'hurdles to health' is a prerequisite for health providers and health service managers if they are to tailor health care and services appropriately. We include tables of available resources and entitlements to health care according to visa category to assist providers and managers.

Access to health care for illegal immigrants in the EU: should we be concerned?

Summary The presence of illegal immigrants in EU countries is increasing despite considerable immigration policy efforts over the last years. EU Member States have responded by strengthening their fight against illegal immigration, with different multi-level measures that include the curtailment or denial of social security rights such as access to publicly funded health care. Although significant differences exist between Social Health Insurance and National Health Service countries with regard to legislative provisions, access to health care for illegal immigrants is generally limited to situations that are life threatening (emergencies) or pose a risk to the public health (i.e. infectious diseases). In practice, strong barriers to access exist even in those situations. Because health care needs of illegal immigrants are not being met, access to health care for this population should be an issue of utmost concern to both policy makers and the public. National legislations and implementation practices need to be upgraded in order to grant illegal immigrants effective access to health care, as mandated by Human Rights laws. That is feasible and not necessarily incompatible with current immigration policies.

Health care of illegal immigrants post 9-11

Health care of illegal immigrants post 9-11

Health care of illegal immigrants post 9-11

Health care of illegal immigrants post 9-11

Legislating a Public Health Nightmare: The Anti-Immigrant Provisions of the 'Contract with America' Congress

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, two major products of the Contract With America Congress, have restricted federal funding for immigrant health care to an unprecedented extent. Legally present immigrants are eligible for few government-sponsored services, and undocumented immigrants have even less access to care. The consequences of this public health blunder are difficult to measure because the restrictions on health care access created by the 1996 laws limit investigators' contact with the immigrants who are the targets of the legislation. Public health research demonstrates that denial of care to new and undocumented immigrants has predictable adverse health consequences for all U.S. residents. This article reviews the statutory modifications affecting immigrants' health care access since 1996, their effect on prevention and treatment of communicable disease, prenatal care, and children's health care, recent litigation arising from the 1996 legislation, and the options available for avoiding the threat these restrictions pose to the public's health.

Immigrants and August 22, 1996: Will the Public Charge Rule Clarify Program Eligibility?

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, known as the welfare reform law, placed great restrictions on the ability of legal immigrants to access and qualify for public benefits. Although many of these benefits were later restored, immigrants have not been utilizing them for fear of being considered a “public charge” resulting in possible deportation. Immigrant advocates and healthcare providers have expressed concern that the underutilization of services by immigrants places families and children at-risk for potential public health consequences. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has proposed a policy to clearly define the public charge rule, and the consideration of immigrants' eligibility or ineligibility for different assistance programs. This article traces the history of the public charge rule, provides an analysis of unresolved issues under the proposed policy, and discusses implications for the field of social work

HEALTH PROBLEMS OF ASIAN AND LATINO IMMIGRANTS

Many different circumstances influence Asian and Latino immigration to the United States, including poverty, war, educational opportunities, and protection of financial assets. Such varying circumstances point clearly to a different set of expected health problems. Immigrants often lack resources necessary to acquire quality health care. These resources involve language skills, knowledge of US health care and social services, and insurance. Risk factors to which immigrants may have been exposed include poor nutrition, lack of immunizations and vaccinations, inadequate or inappropriate treatment, and inadequate or inaccurate beliefs about illness and treatment. Frequent health problems among Latino and Asian immigrants are tuberculosis, hepatitis B, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, diabetes, and substance abuse. The nursing care of immigrants involves not only attention to reducing risk and treating illness, but also attention to the provision of resources. Nurses face several ethical dilemmas in the health care of immigrants including a public anti-immigrant sentiment, and political attempts to limit health care and education to immigrants.

Ethical problems in communication in immigrant health care

Ethical problems in communication in immigrant health care

Reported health, lifestyles, and use of health care of first generation immigrants in The Netherlands: do socioeconomic factors explain their adverse position?

OBJECTIVE: Differences in health, lifestyles, and use of health care between groups of varying ethnic origin can have important implications for preventive and curative health care. This paper studies whether...

Values in International Business: Faces of a Faceless Labour Force

The American State of California passed Proposition 187 in November 1994, thus confirming the discontent of the 'contented electoral majority' with spending taxpayer dollars on education and health care for undocumented immigrants. The paper traces the unfortunate set of events to their source, the initiation of the US-Mexico Bracero Programme in 1940. This retrospective enables us to observe how US policy switched from requesting assistance from Mexico during labour shortage to repudiating the sons of those who had come to its aid.

Immigrant transitions and health care: an action plan

Immigrant transitions and health care: an action plan

Providing mental health care for immigrants

Providing mental health care for immigrants

Impact of Proposition 187 Is Difficult to Gauge

FOR Lisa Baumeister, MD, a residency in family practice at San Francisco General Hospital was a natural choice. "The mission statement of the program centered on caring for underserved urban populations," says Baumeister, now in her second year of residency in the hospital's Family Health Center. "I wanted to be in a place that valued immigrant health care and health care for low-income people." In fact, says Baumeister, who is of Mexican descent, advocating for Latinos who often cannot obtain the health care they need was a major motivating force in her decision to enter medicine. "I was raised in Sacramento [Calif], where there is a large Latino community. I developed a deep respect for how the people in the community come together to help themselves and to help build up their community." But since last fall's elections, Baumeister feels some of her goals could be in jeopardy. Voters who

Vietnamese refugees in Victoria, B.C.: An overview of immigrant and refugee health care in a medium-sized Canadian urban centre

This paper examines the manner in which Vietnamese refugees access the healthcare system in Victoria, British Columbia. A major theme of this study was the identification of barriers to health care access and provision as perceived by refugees and health care providers, as well as areas of overlap between the two sets of perceptions. The study was based on interview protocols developed with key informants followed by structured samples of 20 Vietnamese and 20 health care workers. The major issue identified by both groups was problematic interpretation of patient symptoms and health care provider recommendations. Lack of health care worker understanding of traditional remedies for common ailments was also identified as a barrier to health care access and utilization. The special problems of unemployment, depression, surviving torture and getting assistance are all made more difficult for refugees living in a smaller urban centre which lacks sufficiently large ethnic populations to assist in service provision. A number of suggestions are made which might ameliorate the difficulties of refugees living in smaller communities. These include municipally based client advocates and special translation training for existing hospital staff.

Prevalence of Hepatitis B Markers and Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Antibodies Among Jewish Refugees From the Former Soviet Union

To assess the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella among refugees from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Descriptive study. Soviet Immigrant Health Care Program, Sinai Samaritan Hospital, Milwaukee, Wis. Consecutive sample of 496 Jewish refugees from the FSU presenting for new arrival screening from December 1, 1990, through January 11, 1993. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis B surface antibody, and measles, mumps, and rubella antibodies. At least one hepatitis B marker was detected in 22% of the refugees, and HBsAg was detected in 0.4%. The rate of HBV infection (any marker present) increased with increasing age, ranging from 4% among those aged 0 through 19 years to 31% among those aged 50 through 59 years (chi 2 test for trend, 13.5; P < .001). Among those aged 0 through 19 years, 19% lacked antibody to measles, 8% lacked antibody to mumps, and 13% lacked antibody to rubella. Refugees who were less than 30 years of age were more than twice as likely to lack antibodies to measles, mumps, or rubella compared with those who were 30 years of age or older (relative risk, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.8 to 4.2; P < .001). In our sample of Jewish refugees from the FSU (primarily Ukraine, Russia, and Belorussia), the rate of HBsAg positivity was low, suggesting that routine screening for HBV infection is not needed. Seronegativity to measles, mumps, and rubella was relatively common among those less than 30 years old. Those refugees who were born after 1957 should be given combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine unless their written documentation indicates previous receipt of these antigens according to the immunization schedule recommended in the United States.

The Effects of Immigration on the Health Care System of South Florida

The paper reports results of a study commissioned by the South Florida Hospital Association for the purpose of effecting positive changes in resource allocation for immigrant health care, and in the ability of health care providers to deliver efficient and effective care in a culturally appropriate manner. The history of immigration to South Florida over the past five decades is discussed. The major health care needs of immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin and Central America are presented, and the evolution of health care facilities to meet those needs is discussed. Twenty health care providers representing a cross-section of facilities providing immigrant health care, and 201 immigrants receiving care in community-based and hospital clinics were interviewed regarding health care needs. Multiple concerns were cited by immigrants about language barriers, negative staff attitudes, long waiting periods, transportation, and organizational red tape. Eight major recommendations are made to address the con...

Inventing accuracy A Historical sociology of nuclear missile guidance

In the context of the United States of America (U.S.), COVID-19 has influenced migrant experiences in a variety of ways, including the government's use of public health orders to prevent migration into the country and the risk of immigrants contracting COVID-19 while in detention centers. However, this paper focuses on barriers that immigrants of diverse statuses living in the U.S.—along with their families—may face in accessing health services during the pandemic, as well as implications of these barriers for COVID-19 prevention and response efforts. We report findings from a scoping review about immigration status as a social determinant of health and discuss ways that immigration status can impede access to health care across levels of the social ecology. We then develop a conceptual outline to explore how changes to federal immigration policies and COVID-19 federal relief efforts implemented in 2020 may have created additional barriers to health care for immigrants and their families. Improving health care access for immigrant populations in the U.S. requires interventions at all levels of the social ecology and across various social determinants of health, both in response to COVID-19 and to strengthen health systems more broadly.

An estimation of dental treatment needs in two groups of refugees in Sweden

The aim of this study was to estimate dental treatment need in groups of Chilean and Polish refugees in Sweden. Of the Nordic countries, Sweden accepts the greatest number of refugees. An average of 5000 refugees arrived annually in 1981-85, increasing to 15,000 during 1986-87. Refugees and their families now comprise 93% of non-Nordic immigration. In 1981-83 a sample of 193 Chilean and 92 Polish refugees in the county of Stockholm was selected for this study. Dental treatment needs were calculated in accordance with CPITN and the working study of Swedish dentistry, which formed the basis for the Swedish scale of dental fees for the National Dental Insurance Scheme. The estimated mean treatment time (+/- SD) in the Chilean sample was 6.9 +/- 2.3 h and in the Polish group 8.4 +/- 3.0; in comparison with estimated treatment needs in a Swedish material, both would be classified as extreme risk groups. There was no correlation between the number of months in Sweden and the estimated treatment needs. The results indicate a cumulative, unmet need for dental care in these groups. Barriers to ensuring adequate health care for immigrants persist; special outreach programmes, conducted by dental health personnel, may be an effective means of introducing immigrants to the Swedish dental care system.

The Costs and Returns of Human Migration

The Costs and Returns of Human Migration