Tag Archives: undocumented immigrants

A reporter considers the consequences of publishing a source’s legal status

Leave a reply

Marc Ramirez

Millions of unauthorized immigrant adults — who represent more than 80% of immigrants living in the United States illegally — contribute to public health programs they may never benefit from because of their legal status. In a recent story that highlighted the lack of health care coverage for undocumented older people, Marc Ramirez, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, interviewed a man from Mexico, in part because the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants are from Latin America.  Continue reading →

Margarita Martín-Hidalgo Birnbaum (@mbirnbaumnews) is AHCJ's Health Equity Core Topic Leader. An independent journalist who has covered health disparities. Birnbaum’s stories have been published by WebMD, American Heart Association News, and American Indian, the magazine of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Covering health care quandaries in an anti-immigrant campaign year

Leave a reply
Photo: Living-Learning Programs via Flickr

Photo: Living-Learning Programs via Flickr

Here’s a story worth looking at in the states, particularly in the midst of a pretty heated campaign season: health care for those living in the United States without legal permission.

The Affordable Care Act, as you may remember, did not cover people living in the country illegally (though some conservatives insist otherwise). In fact, they can’t even buy a plan in the ACA exchanges with their own money – with no subsidy. (They can purchase insurance outside the ACA with their own money, and some who are employed do get covered through jobs, although there is some disagreement over how many.) Continue reading →

Contributing editor to Politico Magazine and former health care editor-at-large, Politico, Commonwealth Fund journalist in residence and assistant lecturer at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.