Insured Immigrants Have Lower Medical Expenses Than Insured US-born Citizens

A nationally representative study found that immigrants spent less on medical expenses than their US-born counterparts, even after controlling for level of health insurance coverage and other confounding factors.


Researchers used data for non-elderly adults ages 19-64 from the 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. They found that approximately 44 percent of recent immigrants and 63 percent of established immigrants were fully insured.


Yet recent immigrants were responsible for only about 1 percent of public medical expenditures even though they constituted 5 percent of the population.


"These findings suggest, contrary to stereotypes, that insurance premiums paid for immigrants may actually be cross-subsidizing the medical expenses of those who are US born," the study's authors claimed.


"Health Insurance Coverage and Medical Expenditures of Immigrants and Native-Born Citizens in the United States."


Source

American Journal of Public Health


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