258092
Undocumented immigrants' health status and health care utilization: Findings from the California Health Interview Survey
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
: 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM
Nadereh Pourat, PhD
,
Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health/UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, CA
Tabashir Sadegh-Nobari, MPH
,
Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
Steven Wallace, PhD
,
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, CA
E. Richard Brown, PhD
,
Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Background: Unfounded claims that the undocumented are sicker and use more healthcare encouraged political support for excluding them from receiving health insurance coverage or purchasing it in the exchange under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Objectives: To analyze health status and utilization of undocumented migrants compared with citizens in the United States. Methods: We used data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (n=47,397) and applied descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Compared to US-born citizens, the undocumented were more likely to report fair or poor health and be overweight or obese but less likely to have asthma. However, undocumented did not differ in rates of heart disease, diabetes or smoking. The undocumented were significantly less likely to have an ER visit or to have visited a doctor last year compared to US-born citizens in unadjusted models. Among those who had visited the doctor last year, the undocumented were significantly less likely to have had 5 or more visits. In adjusted multivariate analyses, the descriptive results were sustained except that no difference was found between undocumented and US-born citizens in visiting a doctor last year. Conclusions: These data contradict perceptions that undocumented migrants are sicker and use more health services. Permitting the lower risk undocumented to obtain health insurance through health benefit exchanges may improve the availability of lower premiums as well as help maintain the lower risk status of this population. Excluding the undocumented population may adversely impact overall population health.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Diversity and culture
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives: Describe differences in health status and health behaviors by citizenship and documentation status among immigrants in California.
Explain differences in healthcare utilization by citizenship and documentation status among immigrants in California.
Keywords: Immigrants, Health Care Access
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the director of research at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. I am also a professor of health services at the UCLA School of Public Health and a member of UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research. My research focuses on assessing disparities in access to care of underserved populations. I have examined disparities in access to care of undocumented and other immigrants, and other topics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
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