Abstract

Access to healthcare is a core issue in research on migration and health. The rising ethnic diversity in Global North Countries has been coupled with increasing disparities in health and healthcare access between foreign-born and native-born populations and among different immigrant sub-groups. This chapter discusses important perspectives surrounding healthcare access among immigrants and transnational migrants and outlines emerging research directions in healthcare access in the age of globalization. It first provides an overview of the fundamental concepts and theoretical frameworks for research on immigrant healthcare. The topics revisited include the healthy immigrant effect, ethnic density effect and the multifaceted nature of barriers to health access. The chapter then turns to emerging research topics concerning the culturally diverse healthcare workforce, transnational healthcare seeking among migrants, and aging and healthcare access in the context of transnationalism and accelerated international migration. The chapter suggests important research directions to: examine the characteristics and composition of the International Medical Graduate population in addressing the healthcare barriers for immigrants; explore transnational healthcare access and health management strategies among recent immigrants living in transnational communities; and investigate how older immigrants address health access challenges and unmet health needs in the context of transnational aging.