Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
ReviewBeyond welfare reform: reframing undocumented immigrants' entitlement to health care in the United States, a critical review.
This article addresses the main scholarly frames that supported the deservingness of unauthorized immigrants to health benefits in the United States (U. S.) following the passage of the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), known as the Welfare Reform bill, in 1996. Based on a critical literature review, conducted between January 1997 and March 2011, this article begins with an analysis of the public health rhetorics that endorsed immigrants' inclusion into the U. ⋯ First, the "chilling effect," defined as the voluntary withdrawal from health benefits, is examined in light of unauthorized immigrants' internalized feelings of undeservingness. Second, an "injustice" narrative highlights both the contributions and the limitations of a social justice paradigm, which advocated for the restoration of government benefits to elderly immigrants and refugees after the passage of PRWORA. By analyzing the contradictions among all these diverse frames, this paper finally reflects on the conceptual challenges faced by medical anthropology, and the social sciences at large, in advancing health equity and human rights paradigms.
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
Undocumented immigrants and their use of medical services in Orange County, California.
Does an undocumented immigration status predict the use of medical services? To explore this question, this paper examines medical care utilization of undocumented Latino immigrants compared to Latino legal immigrants and citizens, and non-Latino whites in Orange County, California. Data were collected through a random sample telephone survey of 805 Latinos and 396 non-Hispanic whites between January 4 and January 30, 2006. ⋯ Predictors of use of medical services are found to include undocumented immigration status, medical insurance, education, and gender. Undocumented Latinos were found to use medical services less than legal immigrants and citizens, and to rely more on clinic-based care when they do seek medical services.
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Social science & medicine · Mar 2012
Retracted PublicationDeservingness to state health services for South-South migrants: a preliminary study of Costa Rican providers' views.
Health services for undocumented migrants highlight the complex politics of the "right to health". South-South migrants, an emerging focus of migration scholarship, compose an estimated 40 percent of the world's 200 million international migrants. In Costa Rica, internationally renowned for its public health achievements, undocumented Nicaraguan migrants number between 8 and 16 percent of the population. ⋯ Overall their views on the deservingness of health services for undocumented migrants reflected a utilitarian approach. Specifically, their talk reflected: (1) the limits to state responsibility for ensuring the health of individuals not pertaining to the nation; and (2) a concern for the threats posed to the health of Costa Rican nationals. Costa Rican providers' perceptions on health services for migrants offer partial insight for the development of future migrant health policies in receiving countries of the global economic South.