Economics - General

Do we spend too much on immigrant health care?

The Immigration Policy Center believes not.  Some evidence they give includes:

  • Ku (AJPH 2009) reports that “immigrants’ medical costs averaged about 14% to 20% less than those who were US born.”
  • Four out of five people in America who have no insurance are U.S. citizens.  
  • The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that in 2005 one out of every five uninsured Californias were undocumented.
  • Undocumented overuse of the emergency room may be a myth.  In 2006, 20% of U.S.-citizen adults and 22% of U.S.-citizen children had visited the emergency room within the past year.  In contrast, 13% of noncitizen adults and 12% of noncitizen children had used emergency room care.  

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