Case Analysis: Luis Alberto Jimenez

Financial barriers to access health care are common in a low-income family when they are uninsured or underinsured. Many uninsured and undocumented immigrant received federal and state health care coverage. Latinos and African American are the ethnicities that are disproportionally get affected. Limited access to a doctor when they are sick, taking non-prescribed medication and holding off recommended treatment is only some of the problems they encountered (Carrillo et al., 2011).

During the initial assessment, Mr. Jose Rodriguez, a 36 year old Hispanic male, asked to be evaluated for stress and anxiety. He was accompanied by his sister, Adriana Barrera, and his wife Rosy Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez has a prior military history with little or no combat engagements. The initial assessment revealed that Mr. Rodriguez father whom he had a close relationship had passed away about a year ago. Mr. Rodriguez has been married for 16 years and has three children. On February 20, 2017 an initial assessment was conducted from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Instruments used were the Juhnke-Balkin Life Balance Inventory,and the Beck Anxiety Inventory.

The Kaiser quiz had many of the questions I had seen before however I still missed question number 4 & 9. I thought the undocumented immigrants were the highest uninsured population, as there were disqualified for assistance, but much to my surprise it was the working families who were uninsured. This made sense once I gave it some thought. If the wages are minimal it would be difficult to afford the cost of health insurance coverage.

But for the rest of the population substantial disparities still exist. This problem not only affects the uninsured population and the communities they live in, but the entire nation's economy. Dozens of hospitals in Texas, New Mexico Arizona, and California, have been forced to close or face bankruptcy because of federally mandated programs requiring hospitals to provide free emergency room services to illegal aliens. Safety net hospitals continue to operate under a heavy burden of providing care to this largely uninsured population (Torres, Steven, & Wallace, 2013). Having access to healthcare is a necessity in maintaining the good health of these undocumented immigrants. Several solutions have been proposed to overcome the barriers affecting undocumented immigrants. One solution would be to expand the coverage of the Affordable Health Care Act for this population. Another solution would be to approve an amnesty bill to alleviate the undocumented immigrants' situation in the United Sates, which would allow them to access public health

The majority of uninsured Americans include young adults, immigrants and people in the Medicaid gap.

One of the major social problems in the United States is the increasing number of uninsured people who are among the vulnerable populations in the America. In 2008, there were approximately 46 million of non-elderly Americans without health insurance including adults and children. While this population includes people from all age ranges, young adults account for a significant portion of these people since they are likely to be uninsured. Moreover, many uninsured individuals are in families with at least a single full-time worker as Hispanics excessively have the highest rates of the uninsured. However, the huge share of this population is white Americans as compared to people from other races.

1. Over 41 million Americans have no health care insurance according to the U.S. Bureau of Census.

The Center for Immigration studies has conducted a study on ‘Immigrants in the United States- A profile of foreign-born American Population’, which addresses the issues of poverty, welfare and uninsured, in addition, various studies have noted that the reason for the high rate of uninsured among immigrants is varied. While some prominent ones include, lack of proper education, lack of proper skill set which could earn them insurance through employment, utter poverty and lack of Medicaid (not issued until 5 years of migration, according to Obama Care) also unemployment and availability of private insurance only at the marketplace.

Even with employer-sponsored programs and federal programs for those who qualify, many Americans are uninsured. Over 46 million Americans had no health insurance in 2006, and 86.7 million went without health insurance at some point in 2007 and 2008 (“Health Care Issues”). Why has the number of uninsured risen so drastically and why are employer-sponsored programs dwindling?

This paper presents a case analysis of Richard Ramirez, the serial killer of the 1980s better known as “The Night Stalker”. Using the qualitative method and content analysis, the findings reveal that the law enforcement procedures were minimal because of the technology available during that time and the prosecution was sufficient because of the criminal justice system.

The U.S. healthcare system is remarkably complex, and even healthcare workers struggle to understand it. The U.S. population gets health coverage by government programs, employers, and private insurance. Notably, because of the complexity and fragmentation of the health care system, there is a percentage of the population that remains uninsured. According to CNN Money, the uninsured rate in the U.S. dropped from 18.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2016, this drop was under Affordable Care Act(ACA) (). The goal of the ACA was not to give health coverage to all the uninsured population, rather it was to try to decrease the percentage of the population that remained uninsured(). There is a lot of inequality in the distribution of health among the U.S. population

Financial burdens greatly limit the system’s accessibility; however, many in the U.S. are unable to fully utilize either option. Census estimates from 1999 indicate that 43 million Americans live without health insurance even though 75 percent of them have a full-time job or live in a household with at least one member working full-time (Mueller, , 5) In addition to the totally uninsured, census estimates also reveal that approximately 42 million other people in the U.S. are underinsured. This means that they have some insurance, but are still unable to afford all of their needed prescriptions, tests, visits to physicians, or hospital

Majority of uninsured people are illegal immigrants and the ACA does not provide benefits for them.

In addition to those who are unemployed, you also have the Americans that are employed and still uninsured. These Americans either choose not to have health insurance or they are still unable to afford it. I have been there, I had to choose more money on my paycheck over having health insurance. For most, being uninsured is not a choice, insurance is simply unaffordable. In an article on The Economic Impact Of The Uninsured it states that “eighty percent of uninsured people are employed, or live in a home where a family member is employed. Their plight has nothing to do with a slow economy” (Knowledge@Emory). More young Americans look at insurance as a luxury not a necessity. However, when the unknown happens then these young people are faced with an enormous

“About 44 million Americans have no health insurance and another 38 million have inadequate health insurance. This means that nearly one-third of Americans face each day without the security of knowing that, if and when they need it, medical care is available to them and their families”