y spending significant amounts on medical care for the uninsured, this is required for a health care reform that includes coverage of all immigrants and other low-income U.S. residents.
Hirota et al. (2006) pointed out that a lack of health care coverage results in risk for the individual and the family. Personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are in part due to medical debt, the uninsured tend to use emergency services, and tend to be in more advanced stages of illness; the uninsured have worse health. Scher (2001) noted further that the illegal immigrant child is among the underinsured. Findings in 1999 showed that nationally, 46% of low-income immigrant children who were not citizens did not have health insurance, compared to 20% of children with native-born parents. The proportion of low-income non-citizens with no health insurance is growing and some states are using their own money to cover Medicaid for this group. It is argued that the entire country suffers when this group is not attended to medically. While these states may agree to cover documented immigrant children in the country there are many other adult immigrants or illegal immigrants that are not covered. California has been a trendsetter in the quest to provide health care for all immigrants, despite its an
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