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CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association pledged to improve and sustain health conditions for immigrants and refugees, passing a handful of measures during its House of Delegates meeting.
The AMA voted Monday afternoon to:
- Help refugees get access to health insurance via educating them about low-cost plans and removing language barriers.
"These groups are typically at a higher risk for chronic conditions," AMA president Andrew Gurman, MD, said in an AMA press release. "The medical profession's response to disease is supported by minimizing gaps in healthcare and ensuring that all patients in need can access medical treatment, regardless of legal status."
- Look out for the health and welfare of American-born children whose parents are undocumented immigrants tied up in detention centers and/or deportation hearings.
"AMA believes separating American-citizen children of immigrants from their parents has a negative impact on children, undermines the stability of a family, and that deportation proceedings should recognize these consequences," Gurman said.
- Push the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention Oversight to improve medical standards at detention centers to meet National Commission on Correctional Health Care guidelines, and to track complaints.
"Data demonstrate that substandard medical care in immigrant detention facilities has led to preventable deaths, " Gurman said, "yet deficient inspections ... allow these issues to go unresolved."
- Oppose expanding family immigration detention and separating detained parents from children, and push for women and children in detention to have healthcare access.
"The vast majority of detained families are ultimately released, but the physical and psychological distress of detention can continue, particularly for children," Gurman said.
- Prevent law enforcement agencies from tapping into medical records via enforcement proceedings against undocumented patients.
"The new policy reinforces the AMA's long-established opposition to any federal legislation requiring physicians to establish the immigration status of their patients or collect and report data regarding an individual patient's legal resident status," Gurman said.
Also Monday, nearly two dozen health organizations filed an opposing the Trump administration's executive order on immigration. That plan, which has been blocked in a series of court rulings, is now headed to the Supreme Court for review.
"Suspending entry of highly talented and skilled medical and research professionals into the United States on the basis of their nationalities would ultimately undermine the health security of our nation, especially as we face a looming physician shortage," American Association of Medical Colleges president Darrell Kirch, MD, said in a statement. "When we close our borders to highly skilled health professionals, we also are closing them to collaboration, discovery."
Participating organizations also included the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians and American Academy of Family Physicians.
Staff Writer Shannon Firth contributed to this report