IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v74y2012i6p822-829.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond welfare reform: Reframing undocumented immigrants’ entitlement to health care in the United States, a critical review

Author

Listed:
  • Viladrich, Anahí

Abstract

This article addresses the main scholarly frames that supported the deservingness of unauthorized immigrants to health benefits in the United States (U.S.) following the passage of the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), known as the Welfare Reform bill, in 1996. Based on a critical literature review, conducted between January 1997 and March 2011, this article begins with an analysis of the public health rhetorics that endorsed immigrants’ inclusion into the U.S. health safety net. In this vein, the “cost-saving” and “the effortful immigrant” frames underscore immigrants’ contributions to society vis-à-vis their low utilization of health services. These are complemented by a “surveillance” account that claims to protect the American public from communicable diseases. A “maternalistic” frame is also discussed as a tool to safeguard families, and particularly immigrant mothers, in their roles as bearers and caretakers of their American-born children.

Suggested Citation

  • Viladrich, Anahí, 2012. "Beyond welfare reform: Reframing undocumented immigrants’ entitlement to health care in the United States, a critical review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 822-829.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:6:p:822-829
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.050
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611003510
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.050?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Horton, Sarah, 2006. "The double burden on safety net providers: Placing health disparities in the context of the privatization of health care in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2702-2714, November.
    2. Eichelberger, Laura, 2007. "SARS and New York's Chinatown: The politics of risk and blame during an epidemic of fear," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1284-1295, September.
    3. Jagannathan, Radha & Camasso, Michael J. & Sambamoorthi, Usha, 2010. "Experimental evidence of welfare reform impact on clinical anxiety and depression levels among poor women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 152-160, July.
    4. Ku, L., 2009. "Health insurance coverage and medical expenditures of immigrants and native-born citizens in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(7), pages 1322-1328.
    5. Farmer, Paul, 1997. "Social scientists and the new tuberculosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 347-358, February.
    6. Castañeda, Heide, 2009. "Illegality as risk factor: A survey of unauthorized migrant patients in a Berlin clinic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(8), pages 1552-1560, April.
    7. Willen, Sarah S., 2012. "How is health-related “deservingness” reckoned? Perspectives from unauthorized im/migrants in Tel Aviv," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 812-821.
    8. Siddiqi, Arjumand & Zuberi, Daniyal & Nguyen, Quynh C., 2009. "The role of health insurance in explaining immigrant versus non-immigrant disparities in access to health care: Comparing the United States to Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1452-1459, November.
    9. Mohanty, S.A. & Woolhandler, S. & Himmelstein, D.U. & Pati, S. & Carrasquillo, O. & Bor, D.H., 2005. "Health care expenditures of immigrants in the United States: A nationally representative analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(8), pages 1431-1438.
    10. Schrecker, Ted & Chapman, Audrey R. & Labonté, Ronald & De Vogli, Roberto, 2010. "Advancing health equity in the global marketplace: How human rights can help," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1520-1526, October.
    11. Lindert, Jutta & Ehrenstein, Ondine S. von & Priebe, Stefan & Mielck, Andreas & Brähler, Elmar, 2009. "Depression and anxiety in labor migrants and refugees - A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 246-257, July.
    12. Choi, Jin Young, 2009. "Contextual effects on health care access among immigrants: Lessons from three ethnic communities in Hawaii," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1261-1271, October.
    13. Kullgren, J.T., 2003. "Restrictions on Undocumented Immigrants' Access to Health Services: The Public Health Implications of Welfare Reform," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(10), pages 1630-1633.
    14. Ho, M.-J.Ming-Jung, 2004. "Sociocultural aspects of tuberculosis: a literature review and a case study of immigrant tuberculosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 753-762, August.
    15. Pavlish, Carol Lynn & Noor, Sahra & Brandt, Joan, 2010. "Somali immigrant women and the American health care system: Discordant beliefs, divergent expectations, and silent worries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 353-361, July.
    16. Ruiz-Casares, Mónica & Rousseau, Cécile & Derluyn, Ilse & Watters, Charles & Crépeau, François, 2010. "Right and access to healthcare for undocumented children: Addressing the gap between international conventions and disparate implementations in North America and Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 329-336, January.
    17. Coburn, David, 2000. "Income inequality, social cohesion and the health status of populations: the role of neo-liberalism," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 135-146, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Trine Myhrvold & Milada C. Småstuen, 2019. "Undocumented migrants’ life situations: An exploratory analysis of quality of life and living conditions in a sample of undocumented migrants living in Norway," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(11-12), pages 2073-2087, June.
    2. S. N. McClain & C. Bruch & M. Nakayama & M. Laelan, 2020. "Migration with Dignity: a Case Study on the Livelihood Transition of Marshallese to Springdale, Arkansas," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 847-859, September.
    3. Willen, Sarah S., 2012. "How is health-related “deservingness” reckoned? Perspectives from unauthorized im/migrants in Tel Aviv," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 812-821.
    4. Moysidou, Krystallia & Cohen Chen, Smadar, 2023. "Inducing collective action intentions for healthcare reform through medical crowdfunding framing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    5. Jimenez, Anthony M., 2021. "The legal violence of care: Navigating the US health care system while undocumented and illegible," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    6. Lo, Ming-Cheng M. & Nguyen, Emerald T., 2021. "Resisting the racialization of medical deservingness: How Latinx nurses produce symbolic resources for Latinx immigrants in clinical encounters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    7. Armenta, Amada & Sarabia, Heidy, 2020. "Receptionists, doctors, and social workers: Examining undocumented immigrant women's perceptions of health services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marrow, Helen B., 2012. "Deserving to a point: Unauthorized immigrants in San Francisco’s universal access healthcare model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 846-854.
    2. Chavez, Leo R., 2012. "Undocumented immigrants and their use of medical services in Orange County, California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 887-893.
    3. Vanthuyne, Karine & Meloni, Francesca & Ruiz-Casares, Monica & Rousseau, Cécile & Ricard-Guay, Alexandra, 2013. "Health workers' perceptions of access to care for children and pregnant women with precarious immigration status: Health as a right or a privilege?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 78-85.
    4. Tianyuan Luo & Cesar L. Escalante, 2018. "Health care service utilization of documented and undocumented hired farmworkers in the U.S," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(7), pages 923-934, September.
    5. Jimenez, Anthony M., 2021. "The legal violence of care: Navigating the US health care system while undocumented and illegible," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    6. Finno-Velasquez, Megan, 2013. "The relationship between parent immigration status and concrete support service use among Latinos in child welfare: Findings using the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAWII)," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2118-2127.
    7. Armelagos, George J. & Brown, Peter J. & Turner, Bethany, 2005. "Evolutionary, historical and political economic perspectives on health and disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 755-765, August.
    8. Smith, Sarah A., 2016. "Migrant encounters in the clinic: Bureaucratic, biomedical, and community influences on patient interactions with front-line workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 49-56.
    9. Thomas Schober & Katrin Zocher, 2018. "Health care utilization of refugees," CDL Aging, Health, Labor working papers 2018-08, The Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    10. Parkinson, Sarah E. & Behrouzan, Orkideh, 2015. "Negotiating health and life: Syrian refugees and the politics of access in Lebanon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 324-331.
    11. Jia Lu & Shabana Jamani & Joseph Benjamen & Eric Agbata & Olivia Magwood & Kevin Pottie, 2020. "Global Mental Health and Services for Migrants in Primary Care Settings in High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-28, November.
    12. Banerjee, Albert & Daly, Tamara & Armstrong, Pat & Szebehely, Marta & Armstrong, Hugh & Lafrance, Stirling, 2012. "Structural violence in long-term, residential care for older people: Comparing Canada and Scandinavia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 390-398.
    13. Schapiro, Naomi A. & Gutierrez, J. Raul & Blackshaw, Amy & Chen, Jyu-Lin, 2018. "Addressing the health and mental health needs of unaccompanied immigrant youth through an innovative school-based health center model: Successes and challenges," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 133-142.
    14. Mayer, Yael & Ilan, Rotem & Slone, Michelle & Lurie, Ido, 2020. "Relations between traumatic life events and mental health of Eritrean asylum-seeking mothers and their children's mental health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    15. Cheryl Teelucksingh & Blake Poland, 2011. "Energy Solutions, Neo-Liberalism, and Social Diversity in Toronto, Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, January.
    16. Jones, Peris Sean, 2012. "Mind the gap: Access to ARV medication, rights and the politics of scale in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 28-35.
    17. Godoy, Ricardo & Byron, Elizabeth & Reyes-García, Victoria & Vadez, Vincent & Leonard, William R. & Apaza, Lilian & Huanca, Tomás & Pérez, Eddy & Wilkie, David, 2005. "Income inequality and adult nutritional status: Anthropometric evidence from a pre-industrial society in the Bolivian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 907-919, September.
    18. Barbara Seed & Tim Lang & Martin Caraher & Aleck Ostry, 2013. "Integrating food security into public health and provincial government departments in British Columbia, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 457-470, September.
    19. Engel, Nora, 2009. "Innovation Dynamics in Tuberculosis Control in India: The Shift to New Partnerships," MERIT Working Papers 2009-040, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    20. Francisco Díaz Bretones & Aditya Jain & Stavroula Leka & Pedro A. García-López, 2020. "Psychosocial Working Conditions and Well-Being of Migrant Workers in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-15, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:6:p:822-829. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.