Hispanics forgo health services to avoid officials' attention, advocates say

By Kelli Kennedy January 21 at 10:48 PM
MIAMI — The number of legal immigrants from Latin America who access public health services and enroll in federally subsidized insurance plans has dipped substantially since President Trump took office because many of them fear that their information could be used to identify and deport relatives living in the United States illegally, according to health advocates nationwide.

Trump based his presidential campaign on promises to stop illegal immigration and deport undocumented immigrants, but many legal residents and U.S. citizens are losing their health care as a result, advocates say.

After Trump became president a year ago, “every single day families canceled” their Medicaid plans and “people really didn’t access any of our programs,” said Daniel Bouton, a director at the Community Council, a nonprofit organization in Dallas that specializes in health-care enrollment for low-income families.

The trend stabilized a bit as the year went on, but it remains clear that the increasingly polarized immigration debate is having a chilling effect on Hispanic participation in health-care programs, particularly during the enrollment season that ended in December.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hispanics-forgo-health-services-to-avoid-officials-attention-advocates-say/2018/01/21/3555412e-ff1d-11e7-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html