Health Care Access and Advocacy for Immigrant and other Underserved Elders

Little is known about health care access and advocacy for elders of color, and even less is known about immigrant elders, whose growing number is the major reason that almost one of every three older persons in the U.S. by the year 2050 will be an elder of color. This paper explores a number of access barriers faced by underserved elders, including inequitable long-term care services and counterproductive "colorblind" approaches to caregiving. It also addresses barriers, such as problematic immigration policies, that present particular challenges to elderly immigrants. While available materials provide baseline information and help providers learn about underserved elders, real change in how target populations gain access to health and social services comes when providers make explicit efforts to improve the accessibility and quality of services.