Undocumented female immigrants have extremely rare and poor access to emergency health care centers and facilities. In a study conducted comparing Mexican women living in Houston, United States to Zimbabwean women living in Johannesburg, South Africa the researchers found that the Zimbabwean women were 16 times more likely to seek out emergency medical attention than their counterparts. This could be because of stigmas, lack of transportation, money or fear. The United States esteems ourselves as the world super power, yet women of color fear visiting the doctor because of the physical and fiscal costs. If the United States is created based upon the notion of freedom, then why are thousands of women of color, immigrants and children denied access to affordable health care or a means to get it? And if by some imaginable way they are granted this care, how does the worlds super power still have active use of malpractice on the basis of racism, sexism and anti-immigrant?
These threats are constant in the healthcare field, personal narratives from women like Maria where she explains her experiences as she lost confidence in the US doctors and hospitals after her expression of depression, money issues, and fear of deportation. Maria compares her situation to needing a gold card to be correctly taken care of - or even cared about. Maria is just one of the hundreds of stories immigrant women have shared regarding their mental, physical and emotional journey through the US and its cultural, systematic oppression and entwined racism.
Norma, describes her experiences in the US hospital system as a struggle to understand the fiscal and bodily issues she was facing, she never knew what was happening to her and couldn't name which type of hepatitis she had due to lack of communication between the doctors and herself. The hospital did make it clear how much the treatments would cost though, explaining that she owed 5,000 dollars yet failing to explain to the patient what was happening to her body, what tests were being done and what medications she was on. Leaving her lost and confused in a foreign country.
However, Zolia (another immigrant women without health care) explains her love for the United States and how she feels free to ask for help. She makes an effort to live like most Americans and assimilate into the culture but when she needed emergency care after 7 years of living in America she was told by a clinic that she needed to come up with 25,000 dollars before they "would ever take her as a patient" (page 75). Zolia later describes how the prominence of racism in the United States is why she fears for her family's safety - she accounts her sons brutal beating and her treatment when seeking help as reasons for moving back to Mexico where the political climate is in utter destruction and chaos.
The absurdity of how much health care costs in the United States is damaging to everyone but especially immigrants. The medical care costs in the United States is damaging to everyone but with an emphasis on immigrants. The medical field is a for profit exchange and creates this systematic occurrence of not accurately treating patients - especially patients of color or migrant status, so they are forced to pay the heavy costs or have to come back again for more treatment. The health care system was never really solid, but now greed and the assumption that racism is no longer an issue hides the cheating and manipulation in medical practices.
Recycling patients, not listening, not caring, not doing anything to alleviate the pain their patients feels describes the methods and concerns of doctors. It's not just the administration and accessibility of healthcare society needs to worry about, but addressing the fact that even if immigrant patients receive health care, the exposure to racism and malpractice on doctors behalf's is also part of the battle in patients receiving adequate health care. Doctors need to be held accountable and their motives need to be measured, doctors doing their jobs should not be applauded - this good behavior is what should be expected of doctors Money is driving these professionals and it has become a constant pattern to neglect and deflect these patients until its too late. Society needs to reform not just how to gain access to health care but to assure its quality as well.
It's a fact that immigrant women suffer more than anyone in regards to receiving health care services. This stigma that thrives in the medical field directly hurts and diminishes women of color and immigrant status from getting treatment that is fair and unbiased. WHO describes healthcare as a fundamental human right but if the most powerful country in the world cannot provide health care that is both affordable and non discriminate. Is America really that much of a super power? Or are we more money, racist and sexist driven individuals who promote the rich getting richer. Sweden does a phenomenal job at providing the Scandinavian model where all people (including undocumented immigrants) have access to health care and other social programs. This may be the most expensive economical/governmental model but the morality in Sweden is much higher than compared to the US. Maybe the US should take a note from Sweden on how to create a society that puts forth people's well beings over fiscal and power benefits. People are people, not a means to be manipulated and exploited for a financial benefit.
Works Citied
US Census Bureau. “Library.” Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016, 25 July 2018, www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-260.html.
Torres, Anastasia. “Gendered Forced Migration.” Gendered Forced Migration.
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