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Ana, an undocumented resident of Merced County, simply knows nothing about Obamacare and how it will affect her. The thing she fears the most is “getting sick.” The only opportunity she has ever had to visit a doctor with coverage was when her mom applied for and qualified for a program that gave her three months of doctor visits for $5. Many others like Ana rarely visit the doctor and when they do, “it is practically when we are dying,” said Ana. She believes that it is not fair that, “we, undocumented immigrants, do not have the same rights as others in our community,” even though illegal immigrants work and contribute about $302 billion to California every year, according to a report by The California Endowment.
There are currently 7.2 million Californians who go without health insurance all or part of the year. Being uninsured carries risks beyond the financial burden an unexpected illness would impose. For example, the uninsured have lower screening rates for preventable health conditions and experience poorer health outcomes for chronic conditions. Due to California’s vast geographical, economical and political diversity, the uninsured are not always an easily defined population, even though we can infer that the majority are undocumented immigrants.
[pullquote_left] Some people don’t believe undocumented immigrants should have access to preventative health care, and they cite the fact that undocumented immigrants already have access to emergency-room treatment. [/pullquote_left]
Undocumented immigrants living in the United States are expected to become the largest segment of the population without health insurance once Obamacare goes into effect. It has been estimated by The California Endowment that as much as half of the undocumented immigrant population in the United States doesn’t have health insurance. Undocumented immigrants are not subject to the health care reform law’s individual mandate, the controversial clause upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2012 requiring most Americans to purchase health insurance and placing a yearly fine on those who don’t. Because undocumented immigrants are not subject to the individual mandate, they will not be penalized for being uninsured. Undocumented immigrants can still get emergency medical care under federal law.
Some people don’t believe undocumented immigrants should have access to preventative health care, and they cite the fact that undocumented immigrants already have access to emergency-room treatment. Republican U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn and John Barrasso, two opponents of the health care reform law, criticized the Obama administration’s handling of undocumented immigrants in a report titled “Bad Medicine.” They said allowing undocumented immigrants to get health care in emergency rooms will cost taxpayers untold millions, even though a report by The California Endowment estimated that undocumented immigrants contribute about $2.7 billion to the California in paid taxes.
“So illegal immigrants get health care without paying for it, but citizens face the choice of either buying expensive health insurance or paying a tax,” Coburn and Barrasso wrote. “The cost of illegal immigrants‘ health care in the emergency department of hospitals will be shifted to Americans with insurance.”
