The Influence Of Immigration On Health Care Economics Essay

Introduction

The selected health care economic issue is the influence of illegal immigration on health care economics in the United States. Illegal immigration is still an acute social problem which has a negative impact on the various areas of social development, including labor market, education, health care economics and other areas. Researchers suggest that “immigrants have lower rates of health insurance, use less health care, and receive lower quality of care than U.S.-born populations” (Derose et al., 2007, p.1265). Illegal immigrants constitute one of the legal status groups. According to recent studies, currently, there are some immigration policies that affect the position of illegal immigrants in the U.S. society (Derose et al., 2007; Galarneau, 2011; Messias et al., 2015).  Nevertheless, the number of illegal immigrants is growing. Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. The employers do not pay them social security payments. As a result, illegal immigration leads to the increased taxes for native citizens. The local budget is used to support health care needs of illegal immigrants.  Hence, rising medical costs is the key problem faced by the U.S. citizens. The increased number of uninsured immigrants represents a burden to health care economics. Health care providers, economists and policy makers understand that rising medical costs affected by the increased rate of illegal immigration significantly reduce access to care (Derose et al., 2007; Galarneau, 2011; Messias et al., 2015). Undoubtedly, there are certain policy options that can be useful for addressing illegal immigrants’ influence on health care economics. The major goal of this paper is to explore the possible solutions to the identified health care economic issue.

Three Possible Solutions to the Selected Health Care Economic Issue

There are three possible solutions to the selected health care economic issue, namely the influence of illegal immigration on health care economics in the United States. These solutions include the expansion of health insurance coverage, making illegal immigrants pay taxes and enhancing the implementation of legal practices which require health care providers to obtain patients’ citizenship information. These solutions can be viewed as the most appropriate options to deal with the economic problems caused by illegal immigration in the United States. According to researchers, “a nation of immigrants, the United States currently has more foreign-born residents than any other country; approximately 28% of these foreign-born residents are undocumented immigrants—individuals who either entered or are currently residing in the country without valid immigration or residency documents” (Messias et al., 2015, p. 86). The proposed solutions are based on research findings and can be applied to the health care industry.

 First of all, it is necessary to foster the expansion of health insurance coverage. As illegal immigrants need health care as well as other social status groups, there is a need for the increased rates of health insurance among illegal immigrants. The proper programs and policies should be developed in order to “expand access to health insurance and to community clinics and other care venues” (Derose et al., 2007, p. 1267). It becomes clear that it is crucial to address the health care access to the larger extent through reauthorization and increased funding for the relevant health insurance programs such as SCHIP and Medicaid (Derose et al., 2007). The first one helps to maintain health care coverage among children of immigrants and their families. Due to the increased access to health care, there would be more people with health insurance coverage in the United States. Under the federal law, there is only one option to ensure coverage for illegal immigrants – Emergency Medicaid. Although this provision allows providing health care services to illegal immigrants in order to stabilize the health of patients regardless of immigration status (Derose et al., 2007; Galarneau, 2011; Messias et al., 2015). Besides, there are some options for illegal immigrants to receive prenatal care, including the grants provided by local Community and Migrant Health Centers and the Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (Messias et al., 2015). Hence, the expansion of health insurance coverage could be used as one policy option to address the economic problems caused by illegal immigration.

Secondly, it is necessary to make illegal immigrants pay taxes. Economists suggest that illegal immigration imposes a net fiscal cost on the U.S. taxpayers. Another problem is the cost of uncompensated health care provided to the families of illegal immigrants (Messias et al., 2015). If illegal immigrants pay taxes, there would be significant contributions to the U.S. health care economics. Illegal immigrants should act as single payers in order to receive medical care.  According to researchers, it would be better to provide accurate demographic and epidemiologic data on illegal immigrants in order to solve the current economic problem (Messias et al., 2015). It can be useful to develop special programs that are focused on the illegal immigrants left out of health care reform generically. If illegal immigrants pay taxes, they will have the increased access to care. The development and implementation of the proper policies and programs could help to ensure supplemental funding to hospitals and clinics that are involved in providing health care services to large numbers of illegal immigrants and to the relevant community health centers (Messias et al., 2015).

Thirdly, as health care costs for illegal immigrants are difficult to evaluate at the level of health care provider, there is a need to enhance the implementation of legal practices which require health care providers to obtain patients’ citizenship information. The costs of health care services for illegal immigrants are classified as uncompensated health care (Galarneau, 2011). It would be better to improve the delivery of self-reported data or Emergency Medicaid expenditures related to illegal immigrants. This information can be useful as it can reveal that the costs for illegal immigrants are significantly lower than for U.S. citizens and legal immigrant groups. In addition, illegal immigrants suffer from inequities in the health care system, which is caused by language barriers. Health care providers are unfamiliar with the languages of illegal immigrants and their cultural traditions.  There is a need for improving the quality of care through the delivery of the culturally appropriate health care services and the proper preventative approaches to illegal immigrants.  Much attention should be paid to the planning process to address the needs of the growing population of illegal immigrants (Derose et al., 2007; Galarneau, 2011; Messias et al., 2015).

Conclusion

Thus, it is necessary to conclude that illegal immigration is a serious problem faced by the U.S. society. Much of the research on illegal immigrants’ influence on health care economics has been focused on three major solutions.  It is crucial to expand health insurance coverage, make illegal immigrants pay taxes as well as to enhance the implementation of legal practices which require health care providers to obtain patients’ citizenship information. The proposed solutions can be reliable and effective in addressing the needs of the health care industry in relation to illegal immigrants. Besides, it is very important not only to foster the expansion of access to health care for illegal immigrants, but also to provide control over the promptly growing health care costs.

References

Derose, K. P., Escarce, J. J. & Lurie, N. (2007). “Immigrants And Health Care: Sources Of Vulnerability,” Health Affairs, 26 (5): 1258-1268.

Galarneau, C. (2011). “Still Missing: Undocumented Immigrants in Health Care Reform,” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 22 (2): 422–428.

Messias, D. K. H., McEwen, M. M. & Clark, L. (2015). “The impact and implications of undocumented immigration on individual and collective health in the United States,” Nursing Outlook, 63 (1): 86–94.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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