Negative Effects of Denying Health

Negative Effects of Denying Health Care to the Undocumented

In many ways undocumented workers are the most vulnerable in society. Where, they will earn less money and are not afforded, the same legal protections as citizens. This means that they are exposed to a variety of health conditions, because they are denied access to social services. In this study we are examining the effect that the denial of health care services will have on the undocumented worker and their families. This will be accomplished by conducting a literature review and indentifying a possible strategy to: prove or disprove our hypothesis.

Over the last several years the issue of undocumented workers has been continually brought to the forefront. Where, their ability to receive various public services has often been brought into question. As proponents will argue; that giving these people access to public services is rewarding their behavior of: entering the United States illegally. While, at the same time many opponents of such a policy, would claim that health care services are a basic human right. As a result, these people say that undocumented workers and their families should be given access to various health care services. To make matters more complicated, the Supreme Court ruled in Matthews vs. Diaz that power to determine immigration policy rests with Congress. ("Denying Undocumented Immigrants Access to Medicaid," 2008) This has caused the plight of undocumented workers to take a turn for the worse, as they are not suppose to legally be working in the country and do not have access to basic social services. To determine the negative effects of denying health care services to undocumented workers requires: comparing the underlying levels of health for this group, with that of citizens and documented immigrants. One way to do this is to conduct an anonymous survey by: asking them a series of questions about their life, their underlying levels of health and if they have access to various public health care services. In this case, the independent variable would be average citizens. While the dependent variables, would be undocumented workers and documented immigrants. Once this is complete, it will provide the greatest insights about overall the effects of having a lack of access to health care services on: undocumented workers and their families.

Significance

The knowledge that can be obtained from this study will help to provide a background, on how the different issues in health care are affecting various segments of the population. In an actual health care environment, this will help the trained nurse to understand the difficulties these families are facing.

Hypothesis

Since there have been such negative reactions to undocumented workers, means that the majority will be denied access to health care services. This will expose them to a variety of possible health conditions that could be preventable. This is significant, because as a nurse one of the core principals is to eliminate suffering as much as possible. Therefore, understanding how this issue affects these people and their families will help to achieve this objective.

Operational Definitions

To test our hypothesis, an operational definition will be provided of population samples. For simplification purposes, the three sample populations that will be examined include: documented immigrants, undocumented workers and citizens. A documented immigrant is someone who is legally allowed to work in the United States. An undocumented worker is a person that entered the country illegally and is working off the books. This is where they are paid cash for their services, with no questions asked. A citizen is obviously someone who is a native inhabitant of the country. This can include people who were born in United States and those people who legally immigrated here.

Questions that are Important to the Study

To effectively focus, the study requires laying out different questions. That can help identify specific areas that could be impacting the underlying levels of health for undocumented workers to include:

How does the loss of social services impact these individuals and their families?

What are the education levels of undocumented workers?

Can education levels have a direct impact upon the availability to various social services (such as health care)?

What role do the levels of income play in providing access to various health care services?

Do undocumented workers have similar kinds of issues in families where one member of the household is a citizen and one is undocumented (such as the husband being a citizen and the wife is undocumented)?

Are the challenges faced by undocumented workers similar to those of documented immigrants?

Do both documented immigrants and undocumented workers feel a certain amount of racism from the system itself?

Are there any particular issues that may make an undocumented worker apprehensive about receiving health care services?

These questions are important, because they focus the study on different issues that could be affecting both documented immigrants and undocumented workers. Where, it will uncover how both groups are being impacted by what is taking place in health care and then compare these effects with the responses of ordinary citizen. This will provide a complete assessment, as to the differences in access to health care services, for the various groups of people. At which point, it will be a simple process of being able to support or refute the hypothesis. Then, draw inferences about the possible impact that this could have on a health care environment. This will allow nurses be able to understand what challenges, along with the unique situations that are faced by undocumented workers and their families.

Review of the Literature

Access to Health Care for Immigrants. (n.d.) Hesperian. Retrieved from: http://www.hesperian.info/assets/GHW2/GHW2_B3.pdf

In this piece of literature, the author discusses the impact that undocumented workers will face when trying to enter and first arriving in their new country. Where, the majority of workers will have: poor levels of mental health, they are susceptible to the most illnesses and they will often face persecution from the local population. This information is significant, because it shows how the underlying levels of health, for undocumented workers are below that of documented workers and citizens. As their status as an undocumented worker will increase the physical risks that these people will face.

Immigrant and Citizenship Status. (2006). Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/026855s.htm

In this piece of literature, the author discusses the impact that the lack of access to affordable health care services will have on undocumented workers. Where, they found that costs were the biggest reason that citizens and immigrants do not have health insurance. In the case of undocumented workers, they found that their children are more than likely not to have access to health insurance (to include: if one parent is an undocumented worker). This is significant, because the information can be used to corroborate the difficultly that the lack of health care services, is having for undocumented workers and their families. As a result, one could infer that if one parent is an undocumented worker, it will have ripple effects on their children's underlying levels of health.