Hispanic Immigration

The Hispanic people are among the minority communities in the United States. Hispanic Immigrants are also called Latinos, who originated from Latin America. These immigrants comprise a large group of people from Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, and other similar areas (Noe-Bustamante, 2020). The Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are the largest groups of Hispanics in America. The group has diverse communities whose second language is Spanish (Noe-Bustamante, 2020). The community migrated to the United States due to its greater opportunities and better living standards. The immigrants also escaped religious and political persecution from their countries (Rumbaut, 2019). As a result, the United States acted as a safe place for these people from the havoc experienced in their countries (Rumbaut, 2019). However, Hispania immigrants experienced several challenges while living in the United States. The language barrier was common people for the immigrants in the country. Hispanic people speak Spanish, while the country's national language is English (NAMI, 2022). Integrating into the country was difficult as it was challenging to understand others. This step necessitated the need to learn English as a first language. The immigrants also encountered stigma and discrimination while in the United States (NAMI, 2022). Since they were viewed as a minor race and community, this group had a challenging time being accepted and getting fair treatment like white people. As a result, there are existing policies to help improve the lives of the Hispanic community in America.

The discrimination against minor communities keeps them at a disadvantage in getting essential services. One of the most necessary services people need is access to good healthcare. Healthcare deals with the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of individuals. The lack of good access to healthcare makes it difficult for the Hispanic community to gain medication and other necessary services (Alcalá et al., 2017). Additionally, some barriers to such services entail illegal immigration status due to documentation, lack of insurance, language barrier, and poverty (Chu et al., 2021). Lack of good healthcare leads to poor health, making healthcare unaffordable and difficult to access. The healthcare policy aims to improve Hispanic people's health by expanding Medicaid, providing therapy for all, and giving healthcare services to undocumented immigrants (Alcalá et al., 2017). This policy seeks to ensure immigrants can easily access high-quality care. Expanding Medicaid under the affordable care act reduces the gap of uninsured Latin members in several states (Joseph & Marrow, 2017). This step helps improve access to healthcare, making it affordable to get treatment. Additionally, offering therapy for all citizens regardless of race or immigrant status is necessary to improve healthcare. Therapy sessions help deal with stigmatization, depression, and other mental health issues that affect immigrants (Joseph & Marrow, 2017). On the other hand, most immigrants fail to acquire quality healthcare due to a lack of documentation. Undocumentation also affects access to insurance, making it costly to get healthcare access (Chu et al., 2021). Therefore, the affordable care policy ensures that immigrants can access quality healthcare despite their status.

The affordable care policy significantly influences the Latino community. Improving disease management is one of the benefits the Hispanic community gain from the affordable care act. Racial and ethical minority communities are always at risk of poor healthcare access. However, the affordable care act ensures all individuals access to quality healthcare and disease management (Liebert & Ameringer, 2013). Poor healthcare makes it difficult to manage chronic diseases fuel to its cost and need for extra care. As a result, the affordable care policy ensures individuals can access cancer screenings and treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes. This step promotes good health among immigrants and ease of chronic disease management (Liebert & Ameringer, 2013). The affordable care policy also facilitates funding of community health centers. Most Latino patients get served at community health centers. Increasing funding to these areas increases access to medical practitioners, medicine, and other essentials needed at the centers (Buchmueller et al., 2016). As a result, this step increases the quality of care provided at the community centers while making them affordable for the community. The policy addresses health disparities and eliminates discriminatory attempts when providing quality care. Since the affordable act policy entails research and data collection, learning about Hispanic culture helps deal with cases of healthcare discrimination (Buchmueller et al., 2016). Finally, the policy integrates medication to meet the patient's needs. This step is crucial in the providence of quality healthcare.

Despite the impacts of the affordable care policy, several recommendations can help improve healthcare among the Hispanic community. For instance, some states have not expanded the Medicaid program making it difficult for Latinos to get insured (González Block et al., 2014). Additionally, what is considered affordable to white people may still be costly to people in minority communities. As a result, adjustments should be made in the policy to ensure insurance and Medicaid can easily be accessed by all groups. The policy should also increase the number of Latino physicians in the healthcare system (Ortega et al., 2015). Having physicians from the same cultural background is essential since they understand the experiences of their people. Additionally, this step helps solve the language barrier issue since they understand each other. Finally, increasing healthcare for undocumented immigrants is also necessary for the policy (Ortega et al., 2015). Since the number of immigrants keeps growing in several states, it is necessary to ensure they gain healthcare access despite their status. These recommendations to the policy are essential in helping improve healthcare.

References

Alcalá, H. E., Chen, J., Langellier, B. A., Roby, D. H., & Ortega, A. N. (2017). Impact of the

Affordable Care Act on health care access and utilization among Latinos. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 30(1), 52-62.

Buchmueller, T. C., Levinson, Z. M., Levy, H. G., & Wolfe, B. L. (2016). Effect of the

Affordable Care Act on racial and ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage. American journal of public health, 106(8), 1416-1421.

Chu, J., Ortega, A. N., Park, S., Vargas-Bustamante, A., & Roby, D. H. (2021). The Affordable

Care Act and health care access and utilization among White, Asian, and Latino immigrants in California. Medical Care, 59(9), 762-767.

González Block, M. A., Vargas Bustamante, A., de la Sierra, L. A., & Martínez Cardoso, A.

(2014). Redressing the limitations of the Affordable Care Act for Mexican immigrants through bi-national health insurance: a willingness to pay study in Los Angeles. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 16(2), 179-188.

Joseph, T. D., & Marrow, H. B. (2017). Health care, immigrants, and minorities: lessons from

the affordable care act in the US. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(12), 1965-1984.

Liebert, S., & Ameringer, C. F. (2013). The health care safety net and the Affordable Care Act:

          Implications for Hispanic immigrants. Public Administration Review, 73(6), 810-820.

NAMI. (2022). Hispanic/Latinx immigrants and first-generation Americans. NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/Your-Journey/Identity-and-Cultural-Dimensions/Hispanic-Latinx/Hispanic-Latinx-Immigrants-and-First-Generation-Americans

Noe-Bustamante, L. (2020, May 31). Key facts about U.S. Hispanics and their diverse heritage. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/16/key-facts-about-u-s-hispanics/

Ortega, A. N., Rodriguez, H. P., & Vargas Bustamante, A. (2015). Policy dilemmas in Latino health care and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Annual Review of Public Health, 36(1), 525-544. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122421

Rumbaut, R. (2019). Hispanics in the United States: Origins and Destinies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335589298_Hispanics_in_the_United_States_Origins_and_Destinies