The Intersection of Socioeconomic Factors and Immigration Status in Healthcare Accessibility for the Latinx Community in the U.S.

Srijan Gattem College of Letters and Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles SOCIOL 185: American Society Dr. Isaac Speer 15 March 2024

The complex cobweb of the American healthcare system is not one that’s easily traversed, and the Latinx community, in particular, occupies a position filled with disparities and barriers that highlight the intersection of socioeconomic factors and immigration status. These barriers dig deep into medical care but also tie into systemic obstacles such as unequal employment levels, linguistic difficulties, and problems regarding legal status. Derose et al. (2007) discuss …show more content…
The combined effect of these socioeconomic and systemic barriers manifests in lowered access to preventive services, delayed medical treatment, and overall disproportionately poorer health outcomes among the Latinx community. “Delays in receiving treatment, coupled with the need for larger numbers of effective medical interpreters and culturally and linguistically competent providers, make Latinos more vulnerable and potentially more expensive to treat than other racial and ethnic groups with better English-language proficiency” (Ortega et al., 2016.) It is vital to understand the nuances of how these socioeconomic factors influence healthcare accessibility. It requires a call to action for policymakers and healthcare providers to develop precise, culturally competent strategies to address these multifaceted barriers to ensure equitable healthcare access for the Latinx community. This calls for reforms to expand insurance coverage and increase the availability of appropriate healthcare services to help accommodate the Latinx community in the United States. IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION STATUS ON HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY The impact that immigration status has on healthcare accessibility for the Latinx community in the United States is held on an axis of inequality. This reveals a myriad of …show more content…
This fear is heightened by policy barriers, like the exclusion from the Affordable Care Act, which significantly limits their access to preventative and emergency healthcare services. Derose et al. (2007) discuss this legal provision here: “The immigrant provisions of the 1996 welfare reform act, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), have made most legal immigrants ineligible for publicly funded services such as Medicaid for the first five years of residence (undocumented immigrants were already ineligible), although states can preserve eligibility by fully funding these services themselves.” (Derose et al., 2007). Derose also discusses how PWORA actually makes it even more difficult for immigrants to access proper healthcare by extending the amount of time it takes to be considered PRWORA also extends the period of time that sponsors’ income can be deemed available to immigrants and therefore counted as income for means-tested programs such as Medicaid. Finally, the law requires that state or local governments providing benefits to undocumented immigrants must pass a law to affirmatively establish their eligibility. Derose et al.,