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Updated 10/14/2009 02:58 PM

Illegal Immigrants A Unique Force In Health Debate

By: Kafi Drexel

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While President Barack Obama has maintained the argument that illegal immigrants won't be covered under the nation's health reform plans, its affect on the hundreds of thousands of undocumented residents in New York City remains to be seen. NY1's Kafi Drexel filed the following report.

At least twice a year, Claudia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico heads to the MIC Women's Health Center where she's able to get gynecological exams and birth control pills for free. She already has one child she's struggling to provide for. She says if it weren't for the free family planning and care she couldn't otherwise afford, her family would likely be dealing with an insurmountable burden.

"I'd have like four kids. I maybe don't give a good life to my kids because if you have too much kids, you have to take care of them," said Claudia.

But the whole debate around health reform and immigration is leaving Claudia, and others like her, wondering if services will still be provided for them.

"That's always one of the unfortunate side effects of the whole discourse around immigration. It just makes the whole thing confusing for people. And there's already considerable confusion in immigrant communities about what rights they have access to or rights to healthcare," said Jenny Rejeske of the New York Immigrant Coalition.

New York is one of a few states with a safety net system in place to provide coverage for immigrants who are here legally and those who are not. The Prenatal Care Assistance Program or PCAP provides coverage for all pregnant women regardless of their status. The State Children's Health Insurance Program does the same for kids. Through a complicated mix of grants, contracts and reimbursement, the MIC women's clinic never turns anyone away, still providing care to those who can't afford or qualify for coverage.

Organizations like Public Health Solutions that run clinics like the one in Astoria say they're worried about changes they might see in terms of services and coverage of immigrants.

"We're in the State of New York that has very progressive policies about these things. But nothing is for certain. We also worry about certain grants that may go away because of health reform. Special grants to see people in various different categories of risk. Because people go 'Well, everybody's covered.' But everybody isn't covered," said Public Health Solutions President & CEO Ellen Rautenberg.

For now, experts say, there's nothing in federal coverage plans that should change programs that already exist.

"We want everybody when they are really in need of emergency care to get it. That's our fundamental standard as a society and it's also beneficial to each one of us to have that kind of standard," said United Hospital Fund President Jim Tallon.

With health reform still under way, just what that standard will be remains open to debate.

MIC Women's Health Services Contact Information

Phone: 1-866-642-5589
Website: Mic4Care.org