Local responses in restrictive national policy contexts: welfare provisions for non-removed rejected asylum seekers in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Vienna.
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SUBMITTER: Atac I
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7077352 | biostudies-literature | 2020
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Local responses in restrictive national policy contexts: welfare provisions for non-removed rejected asylum seekers in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Vienna.
Ataç Ilker I Schütze Theresa T Reitter Victoria V
Ethnic and racial studies 20200225 16
This paper examines municipal responses to restrictive national policies by focussing on welfare provision for non-removed rejected asylum seekers. Using an analytical framework of multi-level governance, we investigate processes of conflict and cooperation and the demarcation of responsibilities between government tiers at the intersection of migration and welfare policy. In an in-depth analysis of the cases of Amsterdam, Vienna and Stockholm, we argue that in order to explain the divergences o ...[more]
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Project description:Background: The growing immigration to Germany led to more patients whose medical needs are divergent from those of the domestic population. In the field of dental health care there is a debate about how well the German health system is able to meet the resulting challenges. Data on asylum-seekers' dental health is scarce. This work is intended to reduce this data gap. Methods: We conducted this retrospective observational study in Halle (Saale), Germany. We included all persons who were registered with the social welfare office (SWO) in 2015 and received dental treatments. From the medical records, we derived information such as complaints, diagnoses, and treatments. Results: Out of 4107 asylum-seekers, the SWO received a bill for 568 people. On average, there were 1.44 treatment cases (95%-CI: 1.34-1.55) and 2.53 contacts with the dentist per patient (95%-CI: 2.33-2.74). Among those, the majority went to the dentist because of localized (43.2%, 95%-CI: 38.7-47.7) and non-localized pain (32.0%, 95%-CI: 27.8-36.2). The most widespread diagnosis was caries (n = 469, 98.7%, 95%-CI: 97.7-99.7). Conclusion: The utilization of dental care is lower among asylum-seekers than among regularly insured patients. We assume that the low prevalence rates in our data indicate existing access barriers to the German health care system.
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