Measuring the Impact of Illegal Immigrants on the California Health Care System essays

Measuring the Impact of Illegal Immigrants on the California Health Care System essays In 2005 the Pew Hispanic Center released a report that estimated there were 2.4 illegal immigrants in the state of California the previous year. The report also advised that such a large number of illegal immigrants would have a significant impact on many of the states programs, including education, social services and the health care system. Health care has been a hot bed of debate in America for several years as the costs continue to rise while access to care diminishes. Because of the problems with health care system, attention has recently turned to the question of whether or not illegal immigrants should be allowed access to an already overburdened health care system. Estimates of the fiscal impact from illegal immigration cannot be projected beginning with an agreement on a baseline number of undocumented immigrants in this country. Today, them is a reasonable agreement that between 11 and 12 million illegal immigrants live in the U.S., with the undocumented population growing by about 500,000 people every year(Liss, 2006). The estimates with regard to illegal immigrants in California include a belief that approximately 80 percent of illegal immigrants are Hispanic and from Mexico, with the second largest group being from India. California has been reported as one of the six most populated states with regard to illegal immigrants(Liss, 2006). One half of all Hispanics in California are believed to be undocumented and about half of those entered the country legally but failed to return to their homeland when they were supposed to do so(Liss, 2006). The impact of illegal immigrants in California is a topic of debate in many different arenas, including the health care field. The typical profile of illegal immigration in California is a Hispanic family with young children. There are currently an estimated three million children in the state who are from undocumented parents(Liss, 2006). Those childr...