225746 Immigrant children healthcare access and disparity: Is CHIPRA the beginning of the end?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Angela A. CJVincent, MHS , Bloomberg School of Public Health / Emergency Services, Johns Hopkins University (MD) / Children's Medical Center (TX), Dallas, TX
  
Immigrant children who entered the U.S. after August 22, 1996 faced many legal and cultural barriers in accessing healthcare. The recent Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) gives states the option to provide Medicaid and CHIP coverage to eligible lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women regardless of their date of entry into the U.S.

This essay identifies the existing system of access, outlines the obstacles faced by immigrant children, and encourages healthcare leaders to correlate trends analyzing immigration rates, migration patterns internally and primary care provider availability to their impact on access and disparity issues among immigrant children. This essay discusses medical expenditure profiles, civic contributions by immigrants and federal funding options as reasons for healthcare leaders to invest resources in resolving this situation. Finally, this essay makes recommendations to healthcare leaders about the key steps to successfully implement CHIPRA and reduce disparities in access for immigrant children.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration

Learning Objectives:
• Discuss the impact of migration patterns and the local primary care provision patterns on healthcare access for immigrant children. • Articulate the reasons healthcare leaders at local and national levels should invest resources in improving healthcare access for immigrant children. • Identify best practices at the local and national level for healthcare leaders to analyze and implement.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Children's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted the literature search for information, analyzed the trends and authored the final thesis for this paper.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2051.0: Poster Session: Health and Social Justice for Immigrants and Refugees