The issue of the health care rights of undocumented immigrants remains contentious due to economic, legal, and ethical reasons. On the one hand, the proponents insist on the right to provide universal health care to every citizen of the United States. At the same time, the opponents pay attention to the costs, the effect on the healthcare system, and the illegality of the recipients of the public funds. The issue of providing health care is a controversial subject regarding who should receive care, rationing, and country priorities. There needs to be a restriction to care access based on financial rationality and the ability to offer care to only the citizens and legal residents. To this end, there is a need for a policy direction that will include the national interests and ethical issues in delivering health care services.
Literature Review
The cost factor is one reason critics are against healthcare provision to these people. Jiménez‐Rubio and Vall Castello (2020) argue that denying this group of people access to health care is beneficial because it would help save unnecessary expenses and reduce the pressure on the public health care system. Based on their findings, it can be concluded that emergency service is still essential; nonetheless, increasing non-emergency or preventive care to the undocumented will be costly to the taxpayers and a strain to the health centers. Similarly, Wilson et al. (2020) compared the health care utilization between immigrants without authorization and US citizens. They discovered that while the former utilizes fewer services, they are a source of uncompensated care, which costs the hospital’s a fortune. These financial factors justify rationing of health care to avoid wastage of resources and ensure that available resources are utilized to the maximum.
Other reasons include legal and policy concerns that also support the rationing of health care to undocumented immigrants. Voss et al. (2020) argue that the issues with the rights-based claims to demand health care for immigrants undermine immigration control and create legal incoherence. Their work proves a contradiction in policy implementation concerning the principle of universal health care and immigration laws. Meanwhile, Nunez (2025) sought to understand people’s opinions on healthcare rationing during the COVID-19 pandemic and established that people are more likely to approve of treatment refusal for undocumented immigrants during the shortage of resources. This change of attitude means that only legal residents should be treated in healthcare facilities in emergencies for the sake of the healthcare system’s credibility and national interests.
Healthcare access for undocumented immigrants also has the issue of unfairness and irresponsibility based on ethical considerations. Whereas emergency care is provided for under federal law, permitting immigrants full access to primary and preventive care will encourage more individuals to come to the country illegally, thus adding to the growing pressure on healthcare facilities. Nwadiuko et al. (2021) discuss the changes in healthcare utilization among undocumented patients, pointing to the fact that although the policies helped expand access to healthcare, they did not contribute to better health among the undocumented patients, but only increased the costs. This finding is in line with other arguments that increasing the availability of healthcare may lead to the over-reliance on public services while not addressing the immigration policies. In the long run, one that offers some care to legal residents but does not open the flood gates is in the nation’s best interest and the sustainable management of its health care system.
Key Takeaways from the Literature Review
The arguments presented in the literature to support the denial of health care to the undocumented immigrants are economic, legal, and ethical. The financial pressure put on the public health care systems, and doubts about legal disparities and the policies’ implementation make it challenging to go beyond the provision of emergency care. Also, the perceived views and allocation of resources indicate that citizens and legal residents should be given priority in attending to their health needs, especially in cases of scarcity. Despite the ethical issues concerning humanitarian duties, the approach of restricted access while keeping the emergency care option afloat is fiscally responsible, legally sound, and sustainable in the management of healthcare.
References
Jiménez‐Rubio, D., & Vall Castello, J. (2020). Limiting health‐care access to undocumented immigrants: A wise option? Health economics, 29(8), 878-890. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hec.4115?casa_token=gZt1nl06y5EAAAAA:EM37wY-Links to an external site.fIVLhHDZXyQ_GyEhPUgsg9b0_91_L60HFddzatOVpPrMq_sdLdRb080N7xZ2lc_SPOJQeHto
Nunez, C. V. (2025). Pandemic times and health care exclusion: attitudes toward health care exclusion of undocumented immigrants. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 50(1), 1–21. https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article-abstract/doi/10.1215/03616878-11513062/390356?casa_token=YYTWIyBI15sAAAAA:vrj43NkNIxnetXNwP1wuJkV-ZZeSQNp1Bd_3xRXtdb6w-ClkGuAFaJydXF6LAY4vuN4Av1zfbALinks to an external site.
Nwadiuko, J., German, J., Chapla, K., Wang, F., Venkataramani, M., Vaidya, D., & Polk, S. (2021). Changes in health care use among undocumented patients, 2014-2018. JAMA network open, 4(3), e210763-e210763. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/article-abstract/2777033Links to an external site.
Voss, K., Silva, F., & Bloemraad, I. (2020). The limits of rights: claims-making on behalf of immigrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(4), 791-819. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1556463Links to an external site.
Wilson, F. A., Zallman, L., Pagán, J. A., Ortega, A. N., Wang, Y., Tatar, M., & Stimpson, J. P. (2020). Comparison of use of health care services and spending for unauthorized immigrants vs authorized immigrants or US citizens using a machine learning model. JAMA network open, 3(12), e2029230. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/article-abstract/2774076Links to an external site.
