RE “IMMIGRANTS face hurdles with new care coverage’’ (Metro, Nov. 5): We applaud the Globe for publishing this important piece on the substandard health care being imposed on legal immigrants in Boston. However, the obstacles these patients face go beyond poor transitions and restricted access. With the transition of their health insurance to CeltiCare, we have seen immigrants’ health care plummet through too many cracks in a poorly planned system.
Nowhere is this more stark than in the field of reproductive health. Women present to our emergency department for evaluation of ectopic pregnancy - a potentially life-threatening emergency - but cannot be followed in our clinics. Patients have chemotherapy interrupted, surgeries canceled, infertility treatment halted, and, without foreknowledge, are shunted into programs with inadequate interpreter services and providers to deal with their unique needs.
And yet, as your article points out, the Commonwealth is willing to leave these populations in limbo while implicitly recognizing that it is unsafe for other patients to obtain care within this same network.
As physicians who work with a predominantly immigrant population, we call on the governor to ensure that this insidious shift toward financial segregation be reversed and that all Massachusetts residents are provided comprehensive and accessible care, where and when they choose it.
Dr. Chris Curry
Dr. Pooja Mehta
Boston
The writers are in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston Medical Center. 
