Health insurance moderates the association between immigrant length of stay and health status

Abstract

Previous studies reported that immigrants’ health worsens with acculturation to US lifestyle; however, role of health insurance has not been investigated. We used crosssectional National Immigrant Survey (n = 6,381) to examine the potential moderating effect of health insurance on the association between time in the US and self reported changes in health (comparing health status before and after immigration)and current health status. Separate logistic regression models were fit to assess these associations among insured and uninsured immigrants, adjusting for covariates. Among uninsured immigrants there was a stronger negative association between length of stay and health, compared to immigrants with health insurance. Insured immigrants were almost two times more likely than uninsured immigrants to have received preventive screenings, such as a Pap smear or prostate exam. This suggests that health insurance may somewhat attenuate this association, and is an important resource for US immigrants.