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Health insurance for illegal immigrants across the United States is a topic that can garner a fair bit of criticism from both sides of the political aisle. The reason this is a particularly controversial topic is because it has a variety of other factors and strings attached to it. When the issue of health insurance for illegal immigrants is raised, there is always talk of immigration reform as well as healthcare reform. In a country where thousands of legal citizens and veterans are without a roof over their head, the talk of extending health insurance services to illegal aliens can be infuriating for some.

For health insurance for immigrants call 407-344-1228 or email [email protected].

The issue of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida is at the very centre of a decades old political tussle between the two major political parties. On a purely moral argument, there is an ethical responsibility of the US to make sure all those that reside within its borders have access to quality health insurance. As honorable as these intentions are; they do have severe economic and financial repercussions. Health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida costs the legal taxpayers thousands of dollars each years and that amount is only expected to grow.

A valid question in this case is why should those who pay their taxes, are model citizens and conform to the law of the land, pay such extravagant sums in order to provide health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida?

As per a Pew Research report, there are nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in all of the US. The Affordable Care Act has presented a number of options in terms of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida.

Below are some of the present options regarding health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida.

Community Health Clinics:

There are a number of health clinics across Florida that cater to the needs of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida. The number of these clinics is expected to climb as the number of illegal immigrants entering the US continues to increase. By a rough estimate, there are at least 1,400 community health clinics that operate in various capacities. However, all of these clinics have the ability to offer basic dental care as well as basic healthcare to everyone, including unauthorized immigrants. The debate of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida has caused a lot of division between the health workers as well as the citizens of Florida because of the increased financial strain it puts on these little Community health clinics.

These little health clinics were designed to provide healthcare on a minuscule level to the citizens, without hassle. However, in recent years, it has become an integral cog in providing health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida. The reason for that is basically the lack of paperwork required to get treatment at any of these clinics. Anyone can come to these clinics and ask for basic healthcare services and prescriptions.

In recent years, these clinics received a significant improvement in their funding. This meant that these clinics were able to provide some additional forms of healthcare such as treatment for diabetes, heart diseases as well as cancer screenings. For advocates of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida this was an incredibly positive step in the right direction. However, there have been several attempts to restrict these additional funds to the clinics in order to reduce the number of illegal immigrants availing treatment here.

These clinics are not free, charging in the range of $25, $45 and $75. This covers most of the healthcare services provided to the citizens. The costs may go up slightly for those availing dental services. However, as this is a public health program, these clinics do not turn anyone away if they are not able to pay for the services. This is particularly one of the principle reasons why health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida is fairly easily accessible.

Medical and Dental School Clinics:

This is one of the programs that were initiated to kill two birds with one stone. As health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida has been the subject of intense debate, the public sector universities took it upon themselves to tackle the issue of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida. The solution they came up with involved providing healthcare services to illegal immigrants free of cost, carried out by the students. This allowed the universities to provide firsthand experience to university students as well as how to handle the number of diverse medical problems they may encounter in the future.

These students were allowed to run a diagnosis as well as perform several medical procedures under supervision. This not only led to resounding success but some of the finest medical students of the United States graduated from Florida because of this.

This program wasn’t just limited to the university campuses or campaigns. Several students set up their own clinics with the universities’ due approval in order to provide illegal immigrants the basic medical services. While the issue of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida remains unresolved, the students and the universities’ were and still are quite active in providing healthcare services to the immigrants.

The most famous example of this was when students renovated and set up their own free clinic, named the HOYA Clinic. These students, who belonged to Georgetown Medical School, took the necessary steps to get permission from the proper authorities and assume the premises of an abandoned public hospital. The student body has been vocal in favor of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida and has matched its verbal support with action to bring actual relief to people who might have otherwise suffered healthcare problems.

The particular facility operates on a two night per week schedule, where nearly all common healthcare related problems can be diagnosed and treated if possible. As most of the illegal immigrants that gain healthcare services at these centers are from either Latin America or Africa, there is a communication gap. These student medical camps have arranged their own translation service to be able to serve the needs of the patients in the best possible way possible.

The Emergency Rooms:

Emergency rooms might sound like a weird place in terms of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida but as per federal law, emergency rooms are bound by law to attend to any patients that are brought into emergency care, regardless of their immigration status. This extends to the patients’ insurance status as well. The law clearly stipulates that all patients under emergency care are supposed to be cared for until they reach a stable position. The hospital may choose to forcibly vacate the patient after this point, should they choose to do so. However, the hospitals are required to come up with a detailed release plan for the patient, while also ensuring that the patient is not left in pitiful conditions upon being released.

Community Shelters:

As health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida is a controversial topic as far as the hospitals are concerned, there are several clinics and community shelters that are run in order to provide the maximum amount of medical care for those battling against serious diseases. There are several examples of illegal immigrants being on the brink of death, that were saved due to the efforts of these free community shelters.

These community shelters rely heavily on the goodwill of common citizens as well as the counseling hours of students and doctors. These efforts have helped save the lives of so many immigrants. Until health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida can be guaranteed, these community shelters offer a glimmer of hope for immigrants that need medical evaluations in the country.

However, despite their best efforts, these actions are still insufficient. As per a rough estimate, the number of illegal immigrants in Florida is only expected to rise. Since there is no indication that there will be any significant improvements or amendments made to the current legislature regarding the health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida, it falls on the shoulders of the common folk to come up with a robust strategy to tackle this issue. These community shelters, clinics and University students do an incredibly commendable job but these efforts fall short of what is the actual requirement.

On top of there being a problem of proper resources to tackle the healthcare problems of these illegal immigrants, most of these immigrants don’t know where to avail these services. In recent years, several churches have also started their own healthcare services in order to treat the patients who are unauthorized. These efforts have been widely lauded but the basic problem of it being insufficient, still remains.

Health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida became a key political issue during the 2016 presidential election, but it has fizzled out and the same lukewarm attitude of government authorities seems to have returned.

The Situation Of Health Insurance For Illegal Immigrants In Florida Now:

As mentioned earlier, there is no exact data that can be taken for its face value regarding the number of illegal immigrants in Florida. This is because of the constant changes in the definition of the term, “illegal immigrant”. Pew Research has been able to release a rough estimate of what the total numbers of illegal immigrants is, but even they’ve issued it with a disclaimer that these are not completely trustable figures. As per a separate analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are nearly 5.4 uninsured illegal immigrants in the US.

Judging by numbers, not all is doom and gloom as there remains optimism regarding the future of these illegal immigrants. Thanks to a recent amendment in the basic legislature regarding healthcare, illegal immigrants have some sort of access to healthcare, regardless of their ability to pay. This was done at the same time the changes were enacted that required the Medicare hospitals to provide medical assistance to all patients in its emergency rooms.

But in recent times, it has been sighted that some of the most expensive medical procedures are carried out in the operation theatre, which can make this an incredibly expensive option for some. The state has revealed several plans to introduce several alternatives to the problem of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida.

Some of the changes that have been suggested include funding for primary and surgical care for immigrants to save hospitals the costs that would be incurred if they operated on the same Medicare procedures set out for legal citizens. These options would enable hospitals to provide healthcare services to anyone in an inexpensive way, regardless of their immigration status.

Some of the prospective solutions to this problem of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida have included sound suggestions from Bernie Sanders, who, during his 2016 presidential run, pushed for a single payer healthcare system that would cover virtually everyone in the US regardless of their immigration status. Though it would solve the question of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida, it would also come with several financial repercussions.

The plan that Hillary Clinton suggested had several elements of Bernie Sanders’ plans but had a more calculated ring to it. It was based on a similar legislative framework as that of California and its famous 1332 Waiver. According to this plan, illegal immigrants would have been able to buy healthcare coverage but wouldn’t have been able to avail any subsidies.

Donald Trump has promised a healthcare plan that would take a tougher stand on the issue of health insurance for illegal immigrants in Florida as well as across the US. This means that the federal funding programs as well as special subsidies that exist to make it easier for illegal immigrants to have access to healthcare would be further curtailed. In the light of such developments, it will be up to the communities to set up a wider network of self-run shelters and clinics for illegal immigrants.

For health insurance for immigrants call 407-344-1228 or email [email protected].


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