HEALTH CARE FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS

With respect to access to health care services by undocumented aliens within the United States, the issue does not center on the denial of such access on the basis that an individual is an undocumented alien, but rather on the denial of free or subsidized access to health care services for undocumented aliens (Nickel, 1986, pp. 1923). Moralists within American society contend that anyone in the country requiring health care services should have access to such services, regardless of whether such an individual can pay for the required services, and regardless of whether such an individual is in the United States under legal circumstances (Blankenau, 1993, pp. 3639). Opponents of free health care access for undocumented aliens contend that government, both federal and state, in the United States cannot afford to fund free health care services for undocumented aliens (Chavez, 1984, pp. 2024).

This issue is relevant to nursing and to the nation's health care delivery system for a number of interrelated reasons. First, the number of undocumented aliens residing in the United States continues to grow (Berger, 1992, p. B3). The need for health care services among the undocumented alien component of the American population, thus, is also increasing. Second, the overwhelming majority of the undocumented aliens in the United States arrive here nearly destitute and largely tend to remain in need (Capan, Beard, and Mashburn, 1993

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to fund health care costs for indigent persons. In the case of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, the problem is primarily one that involves illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America, while the problem in Florida is primarily one involving Haitians (Brownstein, 1993, p. A11). Several solutions to the problem of providing free or subsidized health care to undocumented aliens have been proposed. Under Governor Lawton Childs, the State of Florida is suing the federal government to require the federal government to fund the provisions of all services, including health care services, for undocumented aliens (Florida to sue U.S., 1994, p. A2). The rationale underlying the Florida suit is that federal immigration policy, together with the enforcement or lack thereof of such policy, is responsible for the influx of undocumented aliens into the United States, and, thus, the funding of services for these undocumented aliens is a federal responsibility. The probability is strong that the states of California and Texas will join the Florida suit against the federal government. Additionally, it is federal law and federal court decisions that have placed the responsibility on the states to provide free or subsidized serv
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1261
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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