Navigating the Healthcare System: Barriers and Resources for Individuals from Low-Income and Immigrant Backgrounds.

This study investigates the barriers individuals from low-income and immigrant backgrounds face when navigating the U.S. healthcare system. While much existing research focuses on health outcomes, this project centers on the process of accessing care, including how individuals identify needs, seek services, and confront structural and cultural obstacles. The project originally involved an anonymous online survey featuring multiple choice and open-ended questions distributed through community organizations, hospitals, and doctors’ offices. Due to time limitations, primary data collection was minimal, and peer-reviewed scholarly sources were analyzed to identify trends aligned with the study’s goals. The literature revealed consistent barriers such as healthcare costs, limited insurance coverage, communication difficulties, transportation challenges, and fears related to immigration status. Facilitators of access, such as community health centers, family support, and bilingual social workers, were also commonly cited. Findings emphasize that even insured individuals often struggle to access care, illustrating a gap between insurance coverage and actual service use. These findings suggest a need for reforms that address not just insurance coverage but also cultural, logistical, and systemic obstacles. Underscoring the importance of community-informed research and policy interventions that reflect the complex experiences of low-income and immigrant individuals across the healthcare landscape.

Hello, my name is Kabir Toor, and I’m a student in the Department of Biology at George Mason University.
Today, I’ll be presenting my research project titled “Navigating the Healthcare System: Barriers and Resources for Individuals from Low-Income and Immigrant Backgrounds.”

Accessing healthcare in the U.S. is challenging for many, but especially for individuals from low-income and immigrant backgrounds.
My research asks: How do individuals from these communities navigate the healthcare system, and what barriers and resources shape their experiences?
While much existing research has focused on health outcomes, this project focuses on the process of accessing care itself—how individuals recognize needs, seek services, and confront obstacles along the way.

Existing studies show that access to care is shaped by insurance status, financial barriers, language differences, and trust in healthcare institutions.
For example, the author DeVoe et al. (2007) found that having insurance doesn’t always guarantee actual access to services.
Further, Ngondwe et al. (2024) emphasized that immigrant communities often face additional bureaucratic and cultural hurdles.
Given limited primary data collection, I analyzed trends across multiple major scholarly sources to anticipate key themes my survey was designed to capture.

The original study design involved creating an anonymous online survey distributed through community centers, hospitals, and doctors’ offices.
The survey included multiple-choice and open-ended questions aimed at individuals identifying as low-income and/or immigrants.
Participants were asked about their experiences navigating healthcare, including barriers encountered and resources utilized.
Although direct survey responses were limited this semester, the survey framework was developed and approved for community distribution.

Using peer-reviewed studies as reference, several consistent themes were identified. For Barriers: High healthcare costs, insurance gaps, communication difficulties, and transportation challenges were identified. For Facilitators: Access to community health centers, family support systems, and bilingual healthcare providers were identified. 
It is important to note that even individuals with insurance often struggled with actual access to needed services, showing that coverage alone is not enough.

Due to timing constraints, comprehensive primary data could not be collected during the allotted time.
The current findings are based on anticipated trends and literature synthesis rather than direct participant responses.
This limitation highlights the need for continued participant outreach to fully validate the study’s themes.

Moving forward, I plan to continue gathering survey responses through additional outreach at community centers and clinics.
Once a robust sample is collected, I will perform a qualitative analysis using open codebook methods.
This process will allow for the identification of emergent patterns directly from participants’ narratives, strengthening the study’s contributions to healthcare policy and access research.

So what are the implications, well, the findings suggest that reforms must go beyond expanding insurance access to address cultural, logistical, and systemic barriers.
Community-driven solutions and culturally competent healthcare systems are critical to bridging gaps in access.
This project reinforces the importance of centering underserved voices in future healthcare policy discussions.

I would like to thank Dr. Silver, my mentor, for his ongoing support and guidance.
I would also like to thank the OSCAR URSP for funding this research, and I would like to thank the Department of social science at George Mason University. That concludes my presentation.
Thank you for your time and attention.