Immigration

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Do we spend too much on immigrant health care?

August 20, 2009 in Economics - General | 2 comments

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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Immigrants reduce health care costs?

March 26, 2008 in Nonphysician Clinicians, Physician Compensation, Supply of Medical Services | Permalink

David Williams of the Health Business Blog reviews an article from the Boston Globe (“Immigrants…“)  stating that immigrants reduce the cost of health care.  How can this be with so many immigrants relying on government programs and free clinics to receive their care?

While it is true that immigrants are consumers of medical care, they are also producers as well.  A study of the health care workforce in Massachusetts finds that 40% of pharmacists, 28% of physician assistants, 22% of opticians, 21% of licensed practical and vocational nurses, 17% of dentists and 14% of paramedics are foreign born workers.  Twenty-eight percent of physicians and surgeons are foreign born.

An increased supply of health care workers from foreign countries can help decrease labor costs for medical care.

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