Title: Here's how it works if you're undocumented and need health care - Marketplace
Headings: Here’s how it works if you’re undocumented and need health care
Here’s how it works if you’re undocumented and need health care
Here’s how it works
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Content: You don’t have an established relationship with any provider, so you head off to the emergency room.” More often than not, undocumented people will simply avoid going to the doctor rather than coming home with a big hospital bill. Samantha Artiga, director of the Disparities Policy Project at the Kaiser Family Foundation, pointed out another important deterrent: the assumption they’ll be asked about their citizenship status. “We’ve seen a growing level of fear and uncertainty, broadly, across immigrant families, that is also making them less willing to access services and programs for which they might be eligible,” Artiga said. “ The majority of their children are United States-born citizens who may qualify for Medicaid and CHIP coverage.” Some states and cities have tried to make access for undocumented people more available. California is providing subsidized medical insurance for low-income undocumented adults aged between 19 and 25, a $100 million state budget item. And there’s talk of expanding the coverage to elderly undocumented immigrants. “There really is a movement of trying to expand coverage to as many people as you can,” said Shannon McConville, health care policy researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California.