Life on the edge: Immigrants confront the American health system

Alejandro Portes, Patricia Fernández-Kelly, Donald Light

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

97 Scopus citations

Abstract

On the basis of a study of forty health care delivery institutions in Florida, California, and New Jersey, this paper examines the interaction between the immigration and health systems in the USA. We investigate barriers to care encountered by the foreign born, especially unauthorized immigrants, and the systemic contradictions between demand for their labour and the absence of an effective immigration policy. Lack of access and high costs have forced the uninsured poor into a series of coping strategies, which we describe in relation to commercial medicine. We highlight regional differences and the importance of local politics and history in shaping health care alternatives for the foreign born.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3-22
Number of pages20
JournalEthnic and Racial Studies
Volume35
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Cultural Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

  • Unauthorized immigration
  • free clinics
  • health insurance
  • institutionalized compassion
  • language assimilation
  • transnationalism

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