We all have stake in immigrant health care
Current events and ongoing debate at the state level concerning undocumented immigrants prompted our academy to speak up.
Patient care is the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians' top priority. Our 4,800 members statewide belong to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the nation's largest medical specialty society. IAFP recognizes that health is a basic human right and the right to health includes universal access to timely, acceptable and affordable health care.
Access to health care for immigrants, whether documented or not, is important to everyone who has health insurance and pays taxes. The June 2013 article, "Unauthorized Immigrants Spend Less than Other Immigrants and US Natives," in Health Affairs noted:
"The safety net available to immigrants consists largely of hospital EDs [i.e., emergency departments] and federally qualified health centers."
Patients without coverage wait until their medical conditions are so serious that they have no alternative but to seek care at a local emergency room. Many times, the pain and expense of this approach could be avoided by access to a primary care practice.
The Health Affairs article also notes that the lower costs for undocumented immigrants could be due to undiagnosed and uncontrolled illnesses for which the person delays seeking treatment.
Therefore, the AAFP/IAFP believes that the nation's health care system should encourage everyone, for reasons of efficiency and quality, to have a relationship with a primary care practice and to have the appropriate health coverage that makes such a relationship financially possible.
Asim K. Jaffer, President
Illinois Academy of Family Physicians