PDF: medicare and uninsured - health care
A 60-year-old Hispanic man with no health insurance and a lot of medical bills -- it's a story far too common for many immigrants, who experts say are more likely to be uninsured than other groups.
"Right now I'm unemployed, I have no money to pay my bills and I often can't even afford to pay the doctor's visit," said the man, who asked not to be identified because he didn't want to expose his medical problems.
In the health care reform debate, the issue of providing coverage for immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, comes up often.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, said Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Chattooga County, Ga., that government-run health insurance could become a "magnet for drawing people across the border."
"Do we want to provide health care for every illegal alien who comes into this country?" Rep. Gingrey asked a supportive crowd at the public library.
A chorus of "No" rumbled up from the 100 or so people in the audience.
But Kaiser Family Foundation policy analyst Jennifer Tolbert said bills in both the House and Senate distinguish between lawful immigrants and illegals. The nonprofit foundation focuses on major health care issues facing the United States.
"Both bills explicitly prohibit federal funds from being made available to undocumented immigrants," she said. "Legal immigrants, however, are eligible for federal subsidies available through the newly created health insurance exchange or state-based gateways."
In the current health care reform bills, citizens and legal immigrants who don't have access to employer coverage and who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible for subsidies to help them buy coverage, Ms. Tolbert said.
But that hasn't stopped the questions.
In seven town hall meetings held by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., several questions arose on whether health insurance would be given to illegal immigrants. Rep. Davis said he would not support a bill if it included such funding.
Pablo Perez, a doctor at St. Joseph Clinic in Dalton, Ga., said health care reform should include everyone, regardless of legal status.
"Access to health care is very limited right now and, at the end, it just puts the entire community at risk because if we don't have proper preventive care, we will deal with more serious, possibly even contagious, diseases," he said.
About 80 percent of St. Joseph Clinic's patients are Hispanic and more than 50 percent are uninsured, Dr. Perez said. Between 30 percent and 40 percent pay cash, he said.
"Every day we see how hard it is for people to get medical care if they don't have any type of insurance," he said. "We enroll them in discount programs, either through the pharmaceutical companies or stores like Walmart, for lower prices on prescriptions, or we work with them on a payment plan."
Neither Hamilton Medical Center nor the Whitfield County Health Department break down their percentages of uninsured patients by ethnic group.
The Pew Hispanic Center says about 60 percent of illegal immigrants don't have health insurance.
"Immigrants are not the cause of the uninsured problem in the U.S.," Ms. Tolbert said. "They do represent a minority of the uninsured population, but they are not driving the uninsured problem in this country."
Staff writers Matt Wilson and Andy Johns contributed to this article.
BY THE NUMBERS
* 68 percent of naturalized citizens have private coverage, either through an employer or individually
* 22 percent of naturalized citizens are uninsured, compared with 14 percent of native citizens
* 45 percent of noncitizens, legal and illegal immigrants, are uninsured
* 59 percent of undocumented immigrant adults, about 6.1 million, are uninsured
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation and Pew Hispanic Center
HEALTH FAST FACTS
* More than one in three Hispanics and American Indians -- and just under one in five blacks -- are uninsured, while only about one in eight whites lacks health insurance
* Hispanics are only half as likely to have a usual source of medical care as whites
* Half of Hispanics and more than one-quarter of blacks don't have a regular doctor, compared with only one-fifth of whites
Source: Healthreform.org
Online: Read several reports related to health care and minorities and immigrants. Read previous stories. Comment.
Perla Trevizo joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2007 and covers immigration/diversity issues and higher education. She holds a master’s degree in newswire journalism from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas. In 2011 she participated in the Bringing Home the World international reporting fellowship program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists, producing a series on Guatemalan immigrants for which she ...
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