Paper short abstract:

Passage of the 2010 US Health Reform Act excluded unauthorized immigrants from receiving all types of federal aid for health coverage. This paper uses a human rights framework to examine media constructions of immigrants’ deservingness on the basis of economic and public health grounds.

Paper long abstract:

Passage of the 2010 US Health Reform Act excluded unauthorized immigrants from receiving all types of federal aid for health coverage. This paper relies on a human rights framework to critically discuss mainstream media constructions of deservingness, which rationalizes undocumented immigrants' access to health coverage on the basis of economic and public health grounds. A human rights critique allows us to understand that the overall US media's positive views of unauthorized immigrants are in tune with long neoliberal assertions that view them as "worthy" — as both responsible students and productive workers who are not going to become "public charges".

Three media frames will be particularly examined. A "cost-effective" frame (i.e., benefits surpass costs) works in tandem with a "cost-saving" one (i.e., preventive care reduces costs), making DREAMers ideal candidates for government-sponsored coverage. Portrayed as young and healthy patients, their insurance premiums would help reduce health care costs for everyone in the United States. Preventive measures, including vaccinations and screening tests, are seen as rational means for curbing both the spread of infectious disease and costly long-term care. A third frame — the "effortful immigrant" — features DREAMers' industriousness and their blamelessness concerning the conditions by which they came to be unauthorized immigrants. Ultimately, denying unauthorized youth access to government-sponsored programs would lead to preventable losses in productivity and higher costs in emergency services, thus negatively impacting the US economy.