HEALTH CARE FOR IMMIGRANTS

 

I. Introduction

II. Medical Assistance for Immigrants

III. Emergency Medical Assistance

IV. Other Public Health Care Programs - See new quick reference guide!

V. Barriers To Care For Immigrants

VI. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Add your questions!

VII. Publications for Immigrants and Advocates - See our new manual!

 

Introduction

Publicly-funded health care coverage for immigrants in Pennsylvania is a complex matter. Unlike other populations which may have a singular publicly-funded insurance meeting all of their needs, immigrants often have to rely on a patchwork quilt of different programs to meet their health care needs. This website provides information about the different pieces of the health care system that can fit together to provide complete care for immigrants.

As you think about immigrant health care, it will be helpful to consider three types of care that all individuals need to access:

•  Primary & preventative care

•  Emergency & specialty care

•  Long-term & chronic care

This website will address the challenges in meeting these three needs for immigrants. The section dealing with Medical Assistance will details which immigrants are available for full Medicaid coverage, allowing them to enroll in one insurance which will meet all of these needs. For other immigrants, advocates will need to rely on a patchowrk of other resources to help find immigrants halth coverage. The section on the Emergency Medical Assistance (EMA) program will discuss the EMA program which can provide most emergency/specialty care that immigrants need. The section on Other Publicly-funded Health Care Programs will discuss resources such as public health clinics, which are the principal options for primary care. Meanwhile, sadly, long-term care and treatment for chronic conditions are very difficult, if not impossible, to secure for immigrants. The final section on Barriers to Care discusses the obstacles immigrants face in accessing public health care programs.

 

Where to Begin?

When an immigrant is seeking health care, you will therefore find it helpful to ask and analyze a sequence of four questions in assessing how to get them the health care they need. This website is organized around these four questions, which are the following:

 

• First, is the immigrant a “qualified” immigrant fully eligible for Medical Assistance and other public health benefits available to U.S. citizens? Many immigrants are in fact eligible for public programs such as Medicaid and CHIP!

 

• Second, if the immigrant is not a “qualified” immigrant, do they have a condition that makes them eligible for Emergency Medical Assistance (EMA)? EMA is the most important program for getting immigrants urgently needed health care treatment.

 

• Third, what other health programs can help an immigrant that is not “qualified”? Non-qualified immigrants must rely on other sources of care besides EMA to receive routine primary and preventive care.

 

• Fourth, even if health care coverage is available, what barriers to care may prevent an immigrant from actually getting care? For immigrants, the initial challenge is eligibility for publicly-funded health care – but sometimes the biggest challenge is actually accessing the care they are eligible for.

 

Follow the links at the top of this page to explore the answers to these questions.