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July 24, 2007
Los Angeles - New expansions of health insurance in California are unlikely to attract additional undocumented immigrants to the state, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The brief notes that both legal and undocumented immigrants are primarily motivated to come to the state by employment opportunities and family reunification.
As health insurance reform has risen to the top of California's legislative agenda, the question of how such reform might impact undocumented immigration has become an important issue.
"It's a common misconception that undocumented immigrants will come to the state to take advantage of health insurance benefits," said co-author Steven P. Wallace, PhD, associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and professor in the UCLA School of Public Health. "However, research shows that health insurance benefits are way down on the list of reasons undocumented immigrants choose a particular state. In most cases, these benefits have no influence on that choice at all."
For example, in-person interviews conducted in 1996-1997 with undocumented immigrants in four major cities in the United States (two in California), noted that less than 1 percent of respondents cited social services as the most important reason for immigrating. The most commonly cited reasons were employment or family reunification.
To draw their conclusions, the brief's authors reviewed existing research on the relationship between undocumented immigrants and public health insurance benefits. Because the number of these studies is relatively small, the researchers also analyzed the relationship between public health insurance benefits and legal immigration patterns, and the relationship between the migration patterns of low-income citizens crossing state lines in response to health insurance benefits offered by states.
Other findings in the brief include:
- While a few studies of legal immigrants have found a small relationship between public benefit generosity and destination choice, most have found no association between the two factors.
- Studies also found that the location choice of legal immigrants is most strongly influenced by the presence of other immigrants from the same country, while the effect of public benefits offerings is weak at best.
- Immigrants in general and undocumented immigrants in particular, tend to be healthier than U.S.-born population and use fewer health care services. If health services acted as a magnet for immigrants, we would expect to see worse health conditions and higher use of health services than we currently observe.
"With the health of Californians hanging in the balance it is critical that all discussion about health care reform be based on facts," said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment, which provided funding for the policy brief. "This should put to rest one of the more contentious issues standing in the way of comprehensive and affordable health coverage for all Californians."
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research was established in 1994 and is one of the nation's leading health policy research centers. It is also the premier source of health policy information for California. The Center is based in the UCLA School of Public Health and is affiliated with the UCLA School of Public Affairs.
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