Ethical and Legal Considerations Regarding the Exclusion of the Immigrant Population...

Abstract

The health reform of 2012 has led to the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the National Health System. This regulatory change forces us to reflect upon the extent to which the measures of economic sustainability result in the denial of individual rights which are the foundation of the social and democratic rule of law. The aim of this article is to prove that the right to health care should be universal inasmuch as equality requires that people can overcome the disadvantages of their disease and disability. Therefore, it must be configured as a fundamental right given its connection to maximum constitutional relevance such as life, physical or moral integrity. This approach leads to the setting forth of a series of critiques on the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the health system.