Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 22 January 2018

Deportation fears have legal immigrants avoiding health care

By KELLI KENNEDY of a compromise agree-
Associated Press ment, Trump now isn’t sup-
MIAMI (AP) — The number porting a deal to support
of legal immigrants from young people who identi-
Latin American nations fied themselves to the fed-
who access public health eral government so that
services and enroll in fed- they could qualify for pro-
erally subsidized insurance tections against deporta-
plans has dipped substan- tion despite being brought
tially since President Don- to the U.S. illegally as chil-
ald Trump took office, dren.
many of them fearing their Last fall, Border Patrol
information could be used agents followed a 10-year-
to identify and deport rela- old immigrant with cerebral
tives living in the U.S. illegal- palsy to a Texas hospital
ly, according to health ad- and took her into custody
vocates across the country. after the surgery. She had
Trump based his campaign been brought to the U.S.
on promises to stop illegal from Mexico when she was
immigration and deport a toddler.
any immigrants in the coun- And in Okeechobee, a
try illegally, but many legal small rural city about an
residents and U.S. citizens In this Dec. 27, 2017, photo, Community Council health care navigator Fidel Castro Hernandez, hour and a half north of Mi-
are losing their health care center, listens to legal U.S. resident Maria Ana Pina, left, as she signs up for the Affordable Care ami that is home to many
as a result, advocates say. Act with her son Roberto Pina at the Community Council offices in Dallas. immigrant farm workers,
After Trump became presi- Associated Press green-and-white-striped
dent a year ago, “every sin- fearing immigration officials treatment when they’re Hispanic; the report did not immigration vehicles were
gle day families canceled” will use her enrollment to sick, Bouton and others say. describe ethnicity. spotted driving around
their Medicaid plans and track down her husband, “One social worker said Enticing Hispanics to take town and parking in con-
“people really didn’t ac- who is in the country ille- she had a client who was advantage of subsidized spicuous places last spring
cess any of our programs,” gally. She’s also consider- forgoing chemotherapy health care has been a and summer. After a few
said Daniel Bouton, a di- ing not re-enrolling their because she had a child struggle that began long immigrants were picked up
rector at the Community children, 15 and 18, in the that was not here legally,” before Trump’s presidency. and deported, health ad-
Council, a Dallas nonprofit Children’s Health Insurance said Oscar Gomez, CEO of Hispanics are more than vocates said patients can-
that specializes in health Program, or CHIP, even Health Outreach Partner, a three times as likely to go celed their appointments,
care enrollment for low-in- though they were born in national training and advo- without health insurance waiting until immigration
come families. the U.S. cacy organization. as are their white counter- officials left to reschedule
The trend stabilized a bit “We’re afraid of maybe My Health LA provides pri- parts, according to a 2015 them.
as the year went on, but it getting sick or getting into mary care services in Los study by Pew Research In Washington state and
remains clear that the in- an accident, but the fear Angeles County to low-in- Center. Whites represented Florida, health workers re-
creasingly polarized immi- of my husband being de- come residents and those 63 percent, or 3.8 million, port that immigrant pa-
gration debate is having a ported is bigger,” the wom- who lack the documents of those who signed up for tients start the enrollment
chilling effect on Hispanic an, who declined to give to make them eligible for Affordable Care Act plans process, but drop out once
participation in health care their names for fear her hus- publicly funded health last year compared to 15 they are required to turn in
programs, particularly dur- band could be deported, care coverage programs, percent, or just under a mil- proof of income, Social Se-
ing the enrollment season said through a translator in such as state Medicaid. lion, Hispanics, according curity and other personal
that ended in December. a telephone interview. According to its annual re- to the Centers for Medi- information.
Bouton’s organization Hispanic immigrants are port, 189,410 participants care and Medicaid Ser- The annual report from My
has helped a 52-year-old not only declining to sign enrolled in the program vices. The reasons vary, but Health LA noted that it de-
housekeeper from Mexico, up for health care under during Fiscal Year 2017, some have always feared nied 28 percent more ap-
a legal resident, sign up for programs that began or but 44,252, or about 23 deportation, regardless of plicants in Fiscal 2017 than
federally subsidized health expanded under Barack percent, later dis-enrolled. who is in office. it had the year before,
insurance for two years. But Obama’s presidency -- It’s not clear how many of Recent events have not mostly due to incomplete
now she’s going without, they’re also not seeking those who dropped out are helped. Despite initial signs applications.q