Dataset Information

Healthcare access among circular and undocumented Mexican migrants: results from a pilot survey on the Mexico-US border.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Temporary and unauthorized migrants may face unique obstacles to access health care services in the U.S. OBJECTIVE:This study estimated levels of health care access among Mexican migrants returning to Mexico from the U.S. and factors associated with access to health care, with emphasis on the role of modifiable, enabling factors. METHODS:We conducted a pilot probability health care survey of migrants in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico (N=186). RESULTS:Approximately 42% of migrants reported having used health care services in the U.S. during the past year. Only 38% had a usual source of care and approximately 11% went without needed medical care in the U.S. About 71% of migrants did not have health insurance in the U.S. Lack of health insurance and transportation limitations were significantly related to various access indicators. CONCLUSION:These results have implications for future policies and programs aimed to address modifiable health care access barriers faced by these vulnerable and underserved segments of the Mexican migrant population.

SUBMITTER: Martinez-Donate AP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4213859 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Healthcare access among circular and undocumented Mexican migrants: results from a pilot survey on the Mexico-US border.

Martinez-Donate Ana P AP Zhang Xiao X Rangel M Gudelia MG Hovell Melbourne M Simon Norma-Jean NJ Amuedo-Dorantes Catalina C Sipan Carol C Guendelman Sylvia S

International journal of migration and border studies 20140101 1

<h4>Background</h4>Temporary and unauthorized migrants may face unique obstacles to access health care services in the U.S.<h4>Objective</h4>This study estimated levels of health care access among Mexican migrants returning to Mexico from the U.S. and factors associated with access to health care, with emphasis on the role of modifiable, enabling factors.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a pilot probability health care survey of migrants in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico (N=186).<h4>Results</h4>A ...[more]

PMID: 25364381

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Project description:BackgroundMany countries aspiring to achieve universal health coverage struggle with how to ensure health coverage for undocumented migrants. Using a case study of maternal health care in a Thailand-Myanmar border region this article explores coverage for migrants, service provision challenges and the contribution of a voluntary health insurance program.MethodsIn 2018 we interviewed 18 key informants who provided, oversaw or contributed to maternal healthcare services for migrant women in the border region of Tak province, Thailand.ResultsIn this region, we found that public and non-profit providers helped increase healthcare coverage beyond undocumented migrants' official entitlements. Interview participants explained that Free and low-cost antenatal care (ANC) is provided to undocumented migrants through migrant specific clinics, outreach programs and health posts. Hospitals offer emergency birth care, although uninsured migrant patients are subsequently billed for the services. Care providers identified sustainability, institutional debt from unpaid obstetric hospital bills, cross border logistical difficulties and the late arrival of patients requiring emergency lifesaving interventions as challenges when providing care to undocumented migrants. An insurance fund was developed to provide coverage for costly emergency interventions at Thai government hospitals. The insurance fund, along with existing free and low-cost services, helped increase population coverage, range of services and financial protection for undocumented migrants.ConclusionsThis case study offers considerations for extending health coverage to undocumented populations. Non-profit insurance funds can help to improve healthcare entitlements, provide financial protection and reduce service providers' debt. However, there are limits to programs that offer voluntary coverage for undocumented migrants. High costs associated with emergency interventions along with gaps in insurance coverage challenge the sustainability for NGO, non-profit and government health providers and may be financially disastrous for patients. Finally, in international border regions with high mobility, it may be valuable to implement and strengthen cross border referrals and health insurance for migrants.

Project description:BackgroundIn the context of public expenditure reduction and cuts, in 2012, the Spanish government approved the RDL 16/2012, which significantly affected the core values of the national health system. The measure particularly affected undocumented immigrants over 18 years of age, excluding them from accessing the full range of healthcare services in Spain, except for emergency care. In 2014, Red de Denuncia y Resistencia al RDL 16/2012 (REDER) was created as a public awareness and resistance network to defend universal access to healthcare and to stop its infringement. This study aims to analyse the social impact of REDER as a solidarity movement in response to the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from their universal right to health.MethodsQualitative research methodologies were used for the research. Data were collected between November 2017 and December 2017, using eight semi-structured interviews with key informants from the main REDER stakeholders. Additionally, key publications, documents, and presentations of researchers and experts in the field were analysed. For data analysis, a framework extracted from the literature on exclusionary and transformative dimensions of solidarity was used to identify barriers and drivers in REDER's intervention.ResultsFrom its creation to the present, REDER has been able to achieve many of its objectives to defend the right to medical care of groups in irregular situations, contributing to the identification of 4,755 cases of discrimination in healthcare access and helping solve over 90% of these cases by delivering either healthcare assistance or administrative support. REDER has also played an important role in: stimulating social activation and empowering citizens to claim their fundamental rights, organising actions against restrictions on accessibility and creating synergies to restore universal healthcare coverage.ConclusionsREDER has been shown to be effective in leading the defence of universal healthcare rights, and some achievements in the years following 2012 could be directly attributed to the work done by the network, such as the elimination of legal requirements to obtain health cards or the reduction of the minimum time required to access healthcare. Despite context particularities, the initiatives and main actions of this network may be implemented in other settings that are facing similar limitations to healthcare access, in order to address injustices and promote solidarity.

Project description:Background:The United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) charging regulations have increasingly restricted migrants' healthcare access, in the context of a wider national policy shift over the past few years intending to create a 'hostile environment' for migrants. With an estimated 144 000 undocumented children living in the UK and increasing public concern that these regulations are negatively impacting migrant health and well-being, as well as contravening international child rights agreements, it has become imperative to understand their implications. Methods:A mixed methods digital survey, covering attitudes towards and understanding of UK healthcare charging, and giving space for relevant case submission, was disseminated through communications channels of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to their members. Quantitative data were analysed on Stata, and basic proportions were calculated for each response proportion. Qualitative data were analysed using a framework analysis approach. Results:There were 200 responses, from a range of healthcare professional backgrounds. The majority were not confident in interpreting and applying the charging regulations. One-third (34%) reported examples of the charging regulations impacting patient care, analysis of which elicited seven key themes. Our survey gathered 18 cases of migrants being deterred from accessing healthcare, 11 cases of healthcare being delayed or denied outright, and 12 cases of delay in accessing care leading to worse health outcomes, including two intrauterine deaths. Discussion:Our results describe a range of harms arising from the current NHS charging regulations contributing to delays in or denials of healthcare, due to patients' fear of charging or immigration enforcement, including potential deportation, and confusion around entitlements. This harm affects individual patients, the migrant community and the NHS - often in multiple simultaneous ways. Many patients eligible for NHS care, such as trafficking victims, are not being identified as such. We found the current charging regulations to be unworkable, and that harm could not be eliminated simply through improved awareness or implementation.

Project description:BackgroundUndocumented migrants experience multiple institutional and legal barriers when trying to access healthcare services. Due to such limitations, healthcare workers often experience ethical dilemmas when caring for undocumented migrants. This article aims to understand how individual healthcare workers who regularly take care of undocumented migrants deal with these dilemmas in practice. So far, the role of healthcare workers in this context has mainly been theorized through the lens of biopolitics, conceiving of healthcare workers as merely obedient instruments of humanitarian government or gatekeeping.MethodsBased on semi-structured, in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations with healthcare workers in Belgium, we explore how they ascribe meaning, reflect upon and give shape to care practices in relation to undocumented migrants. We use Foucault's later work on care of the self to interpret the accounts given by the healthcare workers.ResultsHealthcare workers in clinical roles exercise a certain degree of freedom in relation to the existing limitations to healthcare access of undocumented migrants. They developed techniques such as purposefully being inattentive to the undocumented status of the migrants. They also try to master their affective responses and transform their bodily attitude towards undocumented patients. They perform practical mental exercises to remind themselves of their role or position in the wider healthcare system and about their commitment to treat all patients equally. These techniques and exercises are inspired by colleagues who function as role models, inspiring them to relate in an ethical way to limitations in healthcare access. The developed care practices sometimes reproduce, sometimes transform the legal and institutional limitations to care for undocumented migrants.ConclusionsThe findings nuance the biopolitical analysis regarding the role of healthcare workers in healthcare delivery to undocumented migrants that has been dominant so far. Theoretically this article provides a reconceptualization of healthcare ethics as care of the self, an ethical practice that is somewhat independent of the traditional professional ethics. Trial Registration Medical ethics committee UZ Jette, Brussels, Belgium - Registration date: 18/05/2016 - Registration number: B.U.N. 143201628279.

Dataset Information

Healthcare access among circular and undocumented Mexican migrants: results from a pilot survey on the Mexico-US border.

Publications

Healthcare access among circular and undocumented Mexican migrants: results from a pilot survey on the Mexico-US border.

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