Non-medical drivers of health, also known as social determinants of health, have a significant impact on health outcomes. As fellow Sandra McKay and her co-authors explain, adequate funding to identify and address non-medical drivers — housing and food insecurity, transport issues, and financial strain — can improve patients’ health and health care delivery systems, while also reducing costs.
Hostile immigration enforcement policies and anti-immigrant actions against refugees and asylum seekers are causing trauma to migrant families and exposing them to dangerous living conditions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Luz Maria Garcini, Kimberly Nguyen, Daniel Argueta, Aldo Barrita, Amy Barrett, Jin YanMay 25, 2023
A well-managed U.S.-Mexico border is essential not only for millions of border residents in both countries, but for the U.S. economy and federal budget. This brief lays out recommendations to strengthen the institutional scaffolding that could allow for a safer and more prosperous North American continent.
The authors argue for an identification and tax program that would allow unauthorized residents to receive identification documents and reside and work legally in the United States. In return, they would pay taxes much like any other American.