Health of Migrants: Working Towards a Better Future

Examining perceived barriers to healthcare access for Hispanics in a southern urban community

“…Supported by previous empirical findings, [18,19] participants from this study who were from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador or Honduras faced more barriers to healthcare access as a result of limited income, lack of health insurance, and undocumented status when compared to those from Cuba and Puerto Rico. These variations in Hispanic sub-groups are inextricably linked to political and economic relations between the U.S. government and respective nations.…”

“…[15][16][17] Studies also identified lack of interpreter services and cultural competency among healthcare providers as significant barriers to access for Hispanics. [18,19] However, even when seeking health services in federally funded organizations, which are mandated under Title VI to provide interpreter services, participants emphasized the limited availability of appropriate interpreter services.…”

Utilización transnacional de servicios de salud por parte de los migrantes mexicanos en Estados Unidos

“…Otros factores que complican su situación son el idioma, la cultura, el miedo y la desconfianza, todo lo cual se conjuga para que en la práctica muchos mexicanos no accedan al sistema de salud en EUA. [5][6][7][8] Varias investigaciones de salud pública han documentado los patrones de utilización de servicios de salud de los migrantes en EUA, pero la mayoría no incorpora la perspectiva del transnacionalismo desarrollada por los investigadores de la migración internacional. En estos estudios se ha retomado esta teoría principalmente en temas sociales, económicos, políticos y culturales, pero es casi inexistente en lo relacionado con la salud pública.…”

Understanding social determinants of healthcare access from the perspective of Hispanic Latino immigrants in Louisville, Ky.

“…Under the four dimensions, the largest barriers to healthcare access were related to time and availability; healthcare personnel characteristics; patientprovider communication; documentation; financial barriers; discrimination; cultural barriers; healthseeking behaviors; and, the healthcare business idea. As evidenced in the literature, Cubans and Puerto Ricans in Louisville had fewer barriers to healthcare access when compared to Mexicans and immigrants from Central America (Castaneda, et al, 2011;IOM, 2003;Rivers & Patino, 2006). This discrepancy was associated with immigration status, where Cubans and Puerto Rican participants were all U.S. residents or citizens, making them eligible to receive most federally funded programs and resources.…”

“…Although these factors have direct relationships with access to healthcare, they are also highly interconnected, and therefore must be understood relative to one another. significant barrier to healthcare access among HLI (Asanin & Wilson, 2008;Castaneda, Ruelas, Felt, Schenker, 2011;Rivers & Patino, 2006). In a study testing the psychometric properties of the Hispanic Immigrant Barriers to Health Care Scale, Keatings et al, (2009), identified cultural identification, economic resources, convenience, and provider characteristics to explain the highest amount of variance among scale items.…”