Global Pulse Blog

For those of us interested in the health care rights of excluded groups in the US, I wanted to share some thoughts from Friday’s presentation by Clarissa Martinez de Castro of the National Council of La Raza, on the inclusion of immigrants in the ongoing health care reform efforts.

• Children of immigrants in the US are eligible for health coverage under current state laws and policies.  However, many parents are unaware of this and are fearful of seeking medical care for their children.  Furthermore, under previous policies, children and pregnant women who had been in the US for less than 5 years were excluded from these programs.  The recent reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is an important step forward, extending coverage to over 4 million children of working immigrants and doing away with the 5-year waiting period.
• However, much work remains to be done in promoting the health rights of all immigrants and new American residents.  Some of the themes behind the persistent disparities in health care for Hispanics and immigrants in the US are lack of health insurance; lack of access to health services; shortage of health services and information in Spanish; and discrimination and fear of the system.
• The NCLR poses the following criteria for judging new health care reform legislation: inclusivity of all of the nation’s residents; equity in employer-based coverage requirements and quality of care; affordability; access; and respect for Latinos and other immigrants.

Link to Miami Herald article on the reauthorization of SCHIP.

Link to the NCLR’s Wave of Hope campaign page.

Coming in a future post:  what you can do to make your clinic/hospital more immigrant-friendly.