Health insurance status of the adult, nonelderly foreign-born population

Abstract

The last two decades have been marked by substantial immigration to the United States. As a result of this movement, the foreign-born population is growing rapidly. Previous studies have shown that the foreign-born population is much more likely than the native-born one to be without health insurance. The present analysis focuses on factors that distinguish the insured from the uninsured, utilizing nativity status (foreign born versus native born) as one of the independent variables in a set of logistic regression models. Results show that even after controlling for income, employment status, and other variables known to be associated with health insurance status, the foreign born are twice as likely to be without health insurance than are their native-born counterparts. Among the foreign born, recency of arrival emerges as an important factor in distinguishing the insured from the uninsured. Public policies intended to address the problem of health insurance in the foreign-born population must go beyond being based only on economic considerations and take into account factors such as cultural background and health-related attitudes to be effective.