Access to health services for immigrants in the USA: from the Great Society to the 2010 Health Reform Act and after

Abstract Over the last fifty years the nature of the provision and financing of health services, and the composition of the foreign-born population in the USA have both evolved significantly. The rapid growth of Mexican immigration in the last fifteen years has created new challenges. Ironically, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the sweeping legislation designed to ensure that almost all Americans can obtain health insurance, may reduce access to care for many immigrants by isolating them from the general, formerly uninsured, population. Bi-national and cross-border initiatives between the USA and Mexico along the lines of some developments in Europe are worth encouraging to help ease the current and future barriers to health care for immigrants.