Forcing Families To Give Up Healthcare Will Hurt Everyone

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 10, 2018 - PRLog -- The Trump administration has recently proposed enhancing public charge rules to penalize immigrants who access government-supported health care services. This policy would have far reaching consequences for everyone – beginning with the more than 20 million people forced to choose between food and health care for their families and a future in the United States.
According to a report (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1808020) by the New England Journal of Medicine the policy could result in up to 1 million people becoming uninsured – not jus immigrants, but also their U.S.-born children and other dependents: "An estimated 19% of noncitizen adults and 38% of noncitizen children were enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2016. In addition, 5.8 million citizen children with a noncitizen parent received Medicaid or CHIP that same year."

As medical professionals who work in the field of public health we are compelled to point out the obvious: policies which block preventative health care programs lead to greater illness and disability, and result in far higher costs to society. It is far less expensive to treat someone's blood pressure than to care for him in the intensive care unit and a nursing home due to the consequences of a hemorrhagic stroke. As a pediatrician, I know that it is less costly to provide a child with a vaccine against meningitis than to care for a child with hearing or visual loss who is confined to a wheelchair and will need special education and lifelong care.

The immigration policies which are being proposed are not just unethical, they are also irrational. We are compelled to look at the long-term consequences for the future of our society as a whole. Do we really want more lives altered and impacted by the lack of access to medical care?

It is imperative to act with common sense and an interest in the common good. Ready access to healthcare for families will benefit everyone in our society.

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About Clínica Monseñor Romero
The mission of Clínica Romero is to provide quality, affordable and culturally sensitive health care and other services to the uninsured, insured, and underserved communities of greater Los Angeles regardless of their ability to pay. The clinic upholds the legacy and tradition of Monseñor Oscar Romero by educating and empowering underserved communities through grassroots organizing, health education, social justice, and exchange programs.