Undocumented Hispanics and the Impact on Healthcare

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One of the most significant issues to issues to affect healthcare in today’s society is the impact that illegal aliens have on the already broken healthcare system. This paper will explore the impact of undocumented Hispanics and their impact on the services available and used in California. Included will be the numbers of those that are affected as well as what is being done to decrease the impact of this population on the current healthcare system.

What are the Numbers?

According to a Center for Immigration Studies report released on February 7, 1997, the number of illegal aliens living in the United States was estimated to be 5 million. At that time, the estimated growth of the Hispanic demographic was at a rate of about 275,000 per year. It is also estimated that 54% of the illegal population is Mexican with 40% of those living in California (Camarota, 1997). In April of 2006, the estimate of illegal immigrants was between 11 million and 12 million, more than double the number estimated 9 years earlier (Robbins, 2006).

In California, illegal immigrants make up close to 10% of the costs for education and healthcare than they pay in taxes. In the year 2000, California counties that border with Mexico provided more than $800 million in healthcare services for which they were never paid. An estimated 25% of that number was provided to illegal Mexican immigrants. In California, illegal immigrant children are covered by state tax dollars and San Francisco, also covers the adult population at local expense (Wolf, 2008).

What are California’s Costs?

In (2004, a California study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated the state’s annual cost for healthcare to be approximately $1.4 billion.

According to Ste...

... middle of paper ...

...of a broken healthcare system.

References

Camarota, S. A. (1997). 5 Million Illegal Immigrants: An Analysis of New INS Numbers. Immigration Review #28, Spring 1997. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.cis.org/articles/1997/IR28/5million.html.

Illegal aliens threaten U.S. medical system. (2005, March 13). WorldNetDaily. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43275.

Robbins, T. (2006, April 27). Getting a Handle on ‘Fuzzy’ Immigration Numbers. Calculating the Social Cost of Illegal Immigration. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5366515.

Wolf, R. (2008, January 21). Rising health care costs put focus on illegal immigrants. USA Today. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-01-21-immigrant-healthcare_N.htm.

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