Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees - GCIR

This is the first-ever report detailing the mental health problems and needs of particularly vulnerable groups: the survivors of Asian Americans killed on September 11th and the people of nearby Chinatown who were traumatized by the tragedy. The study, based on interviews and focus groups with victims' families and Chinatown community members, explores the level of their emotional distress, the nature of services made available to them to address mental health problems stemming from the tragedy, and the use of those services by the community.

The research team conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey of 99.4% of all pharmacies in the Bronx area of New York to determine the availability of Spanish prescription labels. Pharmacies located in areas with the highest proportion of Spanish speakers were more likely to provide prescription labels in Spanish. Of the 111 pharmacies that could provide labels in Spanish, most used a computer program to perform the translation. Of these pharmacies, only one had a Spanish-speaking pharmacist who could check and correct the computer translations.

Covering New Americans: A Review of Federal and State Policies Related to Immigrants’ Eligibility and Access to Publicly Funded Health Insurance reviews significant declines in health coverage for legal immigrants after the enactment of the 1996 welfare law. It eExamines the impact of new state replacement programs, and reviews ways to reduce enrollment barriers, including confusion over program eligibility, language barriers, and concerns that enrollment will jeopardize immigration status.

This report examines early experiences with Medicare Part D through in-depth interviews with 35 "vulnerable" Medicare beneficiaries. This is the first of several sets of interviews that will track beneficiary experiences through the first year of Part D operations. The report focuses on choosing and enrolling in Part D plans, as well as using the new prescription drug coverage.

This study Ssummarizes the challenges immigrants face in maintaining good health on arrival in the United States, including lack of health care coverage, linguistic barriers, and cultural adjustments.; In addition, it describes how grantmakers can help improve immigrant health by building capacity in immigrant communities, promoting immigrant integration, expanding healthcare access and coverage, and supporting education and outreach activities.

This guide explains the complexity of immigrant eligibility for federal benefit programs after the 1996 welfare law restrictions were implemented, as well as replacement programs enacted by states to soften the impact of federal cuts. It gives detailed information on eligibility for foster care and other children's programs as well as programs providing cash assistance, food, housing, employment, education, legal, and disaster relief services. In addition, it clarifies how to identify immigrant status and provides a glossary of terms.

This study documents the hardship experienced by children in immigrant families resulting from the 1996 welfare law that cut benefits and had a disproportionate impact on immigrants. Hardship was greater for children of immigrants than natives in three areas of basic need: food, housing, and health care. The examination of eight high-immigrant states showed hunger and lack of access to health care were higher in states with less generous programs to replace the federal cuts.

Synthesizes national data sources to portray major factors affecting children in immigrant families under age six, the key years for child development. Clear graphs portray poverty, family structure and parents' work; risk factors for poor school performance; hardship and benefit use; health status; and child care arrangements. Concludes with suggestions for further research.

The Census Bureau data revealed that the number of uninsured people in the general U.S. population fell in 1999, but the data also show that the health insurance coverage of low-income children and parents in immigrant families has become more precarious since the passage of the federal welfare law in 1996.

Finds that policies designed to reduce language barriers and legal immigrants' fears of receiving health benefits helped expand coverage for low-income citizen children with immigrant parents between 1999 and 2002, but that coverage rates for these children are still below children with citizen parents. Very low rates of coverage offered by immigrants' employers increases significance of whether or not access to public coverage is available.

Provides detailed comparative analysis of how race/ethnicity, immigration status, and language affect health insurance coverage, access to care, and quality of care; helpful charts portray coverage rates and percentages by status and ethnicity who saw a doctor, were hospitalized, or postponed seeking care. Policies that could play a key role in reducing disparities include restoring federal coverage to legal immigrants, expanding state replacement programs, increasing job-related coverage, and improving language access.

Explains special concerns that keep immigrant families from participating in public-benefit programs even when eligible. Describes confusion about eligibility, confidentiality, public charge, sponsor liability, and language access, and gives step-by-step suggestions for overcoming barriers in the application process, improving enrollment strategies, and conducting outreach to immigrant families.

Immigrants are an integral part of the U.S. society, contributing both to the economy and diversity of the country. Despite their important role, immigrants disproportionately lack health coverage and receive fewer health services than native-born citizens. This report outlines immigrants’ health care coverage and access and explores potential policy challenges.

In this webcast, experts discuss the influence that immigration policy has on health care policy decisions at the federal and state levels. Topics include access to health care and health care coverage for legal and undocumented immigrants, ways in which local health providers have responded to changes in demographics, and how policy changes affect health disparities.

This paper examines federal and state restrictions on immigrants and the negative impact these restrictions have on local efforts to serve the uninsured. It examines a health coverage program offered to low-income residents in Alameda County, California, illustrating local efforts to expand health coverage to both adults and children, regardless of immigration status. After five years of operating the pilot program, leaders have concluded that local health coverage programs are unsustainable over a long period of time without significant federal and state support.

Reports on more than half of This report studies New York City’s Haitian, Russian, and Latino first-generation immigrants, and finds that language barriers lead to reduced quality of care for their children and prevents first-generation immigrants from fully using healthcare services. For a PDF of the report and to arrange interviews with the lead author or immigrant New Yorkers, contact Kathryn Cervino, Associate Communications Director, at 212.822.7285 or kcervino@nyam.org.

This guide is intended to help healthcare organizations implement effective language access services (LAS) to meet the needs of their limited- English proficient (LEP) patients, thereby increasing their access to health care. LAS are especially relevant to racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

This paper presents data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) on how immigrant status affects insurance coverage and the use of medical, dental, and mental health services by adults and children. A key advantage of NSAF is that it includes data about citizenship, insurance status, and health care use.

The purpose of this Action Kit is to provide community leaders with the information, tools, and resources necessary to engage in health advocacy and improve the health and well-being of their communities. With an emphasis on the importance of public programs in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, this kit contains sections that provide a variety of resources, including case studies, a PowerPoint presentation, and strategies and tools for influencing policy.

According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau data, almost 52 million people speak a language other than English at home. More than 23 million (8.6 percent of the population) speak English less than “very well.” In a recent national survey, 63 percent of hospitals reported encountering lim-ited English proficiency (LEP) patients either daily or weekly, with an addi-tional 17 percent encountering LEP patients at least monthly.2 Indeed, over 100 languages are spoken by patients in NAPH member hospitals.