The Trump Administration’s Anti-Migrant Policies Are Adversely Affecting Healthcare

The policies of the Administration of Donald Trump are adversely affecting healthcare, not only for migrants, but for all Americans. There have been instances when Administration officials have directly impeded healthcare for migrants, but mainly they discourage access to healthcare through the fear their policies are causing among migrants, including those present legally, and refugees. The Trump Administration has been illegally requesting from healthcare providers data protected by federal privacy law. As a result of the targeting of healthcare providers for its anti-migrant policies, there have been significantly fewer healthcare visits to doctor’s offices or urgent care centers, just as I had observed in my last post that church attendance is down because of the targeting of churches. As peoples health problems worsen, costlier hospital emergency room visits, which thereby increase the wait times for all other patients, become inevitable. The budget of healthcare providers has been negatively affected, which puts all patients at risk of reduced care. Furthermore, decreased vaccinations put everyone at risk. For example, there has been a decade-high spike in pertussis (whooping cough) in Texas, in addition to the measles outbreaks I have been posting about.