Provision of Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants
The debate over immigration reform continues to be a hot button in American policy and unlikely to be solved in the foreseeable future. Regardless of the current policy and where one stands on dealing with illegal immigration, the reality is that there will be undocumented immigrants that come into the country and as with all human beings, they will get sick or injured and need medical care. There are a host of legal, ethical, financial, and public health considerations for policies focused on care for this vulnerable population, and arguably no easy answers.
Review the background reading for this module and conduct your own research. After you have done so, write a position paper on whether the provision of health care for undocumented immigrants should be provided without consideration of immigration status, addressing each of the issues italicized above. Keep in mind that this paper is not meant to be a debate of immigration policy, but a statement regarding healthcare services.
Be sure cite reliable sources and utilize the reference below for setting up your paper. You must use the outline in the reference below.
Reference: The College of St. Rose Writing Center (2007). Writing an argumentative or position paper. https://www(dot)strose(dot)edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Writing-an-Argumentative2.pdf
SLP Assignment Expectations
Limit your response to no more than 2 pages, single-spaced.
Conduct additional research to gather sufficient information to justify/support your analysis.
Support your paper with a minimum of 3 reliable sources; at least 2 of these should be peer-reviewed articles. Use the following link for additional information on how to recognize peer-reviewed journals: http://www(dot)angelo(dot)edu/services/library/handouts/peerrev.php
Title
Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s name
Date
The provision of healthcare to undocumented immigrants is a topic that has sparked many debates in recent years. In the United States, the issue of immigration status has become a significant barrier to accessing health care for millions of undocumented immigrants (Doshi et al., 2020). As a result, some argue that health care services should be provided without consideration of immigration status, while others believe that they should not be provided. However, this paper argues that health care should be provided without consideration of immigration status.
Acknowledging the moral obligation of healthcare providers to treat all patients without discrimination or bias is essential. All individuals, regardless of their immigration status, have a fundamental human right to access healthcare. Denying individuals the necessary medical attention is immoral because of their immigration status. Healthcare is a fundamental human right and should be available to everyone, irrespective of their legal status. The denial of medical care to undocumented immigrants violates their basic human rights and goes against the fundamental principles of medical ethics. Medical practitioners take an oath to treat all patients without discrimination or bias and honor this obligation by providing healthcare to all individuals who require it (Schweitzer, 2019). Thus, given this ethical obligation, denying healthcare to undocumented immigrants is morally wrong and violates medical ethics.
Furthermore, providing healthcare services to undocumented immigrants has significant implications for public health (Schweitzer, 2019). Suppose these individuals are not provided with medical care. In that case, they may be unable to seek medical attention until their health condition becomes severe, which may lead to the spread of contagious diseases in the community. Additionally, denying healthcare services to undocumented immigrants may result in adverse health outcomes for these individuals, leading to high healthcare costs and a public health crisis. Providing healthcare services to all individuals, regardless of their immigration status, ensures that everyone in the community is healthy, promoting public health. In light of the potential public health consequences, it is clear that providing hea...