“DEARBORN, Mich.–Signing people up for health insurance is the easy part of Rawha Abouarabi’s job ministering to immigrants and Arab Americans in this manufacturing hub along the Rouge River.
Nagat Sahouba, a medical assistant for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, takes down a client’s information for an appointment in the center’s clinic in Dearborn, Mich. on Aug. 7, 2014 (Photo by Marissa Evans/KHN).
But many of those she’s enrolled are surprised and indignant when they go to the doctor and are asked to a pay a bill— perhaps a copayment. They insist they’ve already paid their monthly insurance premium.
“They call us and say, ‘it’s a scam’,” says Abouarabi, an insurance navigator for the Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services (ACCESS), a nonprofit agency that specializes in helping the largest Arab-American population in any U.S. city.
That’s just one example of the confusion immigrants face as they try to navigate the U.S. health care system. Even after signing up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act, advocates find that explaining to clients that they will still have to pay out of their own pockets each time they go to the doctor or get lab tests requires more than translating words like “premium” and “deductible” for non-English speakers.
“This whole concept of insurance doesn’t exist in the Eastern world,” said Madiha Tariq, public health manager for ACCESS. “People are always confused about the health care system when they come to this country.””