Asch S, Rulnick S, Todoroff C, Richwald G
VA Wadsworth Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA.
Int J STD AIDS. 1996 Nov-Dec;7(7):532-5. doi: 10.1258/0956462961918482.
Legislative restrictions in immigrants' access to health care and local governmental funding shortfalls in the US and Western Europe have raised fears that public clinic patients might delay care for communicable diseases. To help quantify the potential impact of both policies on public clinics providing sexually transmitted disease (STD) services, we surveyed 234 patients from five LA clinics regarding their alternative sources of health care. Of the 215 providing complete information (response rate = 91%), 52 (24%) reported they had no legal rights to reside in the US. Compared to the legal resident control group, illegal immigrants were more likely to indicate that they had no alternative access to medical care (27% vs 44%; P = 0.03). We conclude that for a substantial proportion of patients, particularly illegal immigrants, the STD clinics are indeed essential. Restricting access to these clinics may have unpredictable public health consequences.
美国和西欧对移民获得医疗保健的立法限制以及地方政府资金短缺引发了人们的担忧，即公共诊所的患者可能会推迟对传染病的治疗。为了帮助量化这两项政策对提供性传播疾病（STD）服务的公共诊所的潜在影响，我们对洛杉矶五家诊所的234名患者进行了调查，询问他们获得医疗保健的其他途径。在提供完整信息的215名患者中（回复率=91%），52名（24%）报告称他们没有在美国居住的合法权利。与合法居民对照组相比，非法移民更有可能表示他们没有其他医疗保健途径（27%对44%；P=0.03）。我们得出结论，对于相当一部分患者，尤其是非法移民来说，性病诊所确实至关重要。限制进入这些诊所可能会产生不可预测的公共卫生后果。
