• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

PNHP

  • Home
  • Contact PNHP
  • Join PNHP
  • Donate
  • PNHP Store
  • About PNHP
    • Mission Statement
    • Board of Directors
    • National Office Staff
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Local Chapters
    • Students for a National Health Program
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Single Payer
    • What is Single Payer?
      • Policy Details
      • FAQs
      • History of Health Reform
      • Información en EspaƱol
    • How do we pay for it?
    • Physicians’ Proposal
      • Full Proposal
      • Supplemental Materials
      • Media Coverage
    • The Medicare for All Act of 2025
  • Take Action
    • Moral Injury and Distress
    • Medical Society Resolutions
    • Recruit Colleagues
    • Schedule a Grand Rounds
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Lobby Visits
    • Organizing in Red Districts
  • Heal Medicare
    • HealMedicare.org
    • Sign our Petition
    • Take our Survey
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Stop REACH
  • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Maternal Mortality
    • Mental Health Care
    • Health Care Voters Guide
    • COVID-19 Endangers Health Workers
    • COVID-19 Exacerbates Racial Inequities
    • Public Health Emergencies
    • Rural Health Care
    • Racial Health Inequities
    • Surprise Billing
  • Latest News
    • Sign up for e-alerts
    • Medicare Advantage harms report
    • Members in the news
    • Health Justice Monitor
    • Articles of Interest
    • Latest Research
    • For the Press
  • Member Resources
    • 2024 Annual Meeting Materials
    • Newsletter
    • Slideshows
    • Materials & Handouts
    • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • COVID-19 Response
      • Why we Need Medicare for All
      • PNHP’s 8-point plan
      • New Study: Perils and Possibilities
      • Emergency COVID-19 Legislation
      • Kitchen Table Toolkit
      • Take Action on COVID-19
      • Telling your COVID-19 story
      • PNHP members in the news
    • Events Calendar
    • Webinars
    • Film Room
    • Join or renew your membership

Articles of Interest

Immigrants Boost Economy’s Health But Lack Access To Health Care Half Of Non-Citizens Working Full-Time Lack Health Insurance

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

New York City — While immigrants are credited with helping to fuel the nation’s long economic expansion, they aren’t sharing in all the benefits, particularly health benefits.

Among full-time workers who are non-citizens, fully half (51%) lack health insurance, according to a study in today’s American Journal of Public Health. Over 1/3 (34.3%) of the 26.2 million immigrants (citizens and non-citizens) residing in the U.S. are uninsured — 9 million people — including one million children, compared with 14.2% of U.S. born residents who are uninsured.

“The crisis in the U.S. health system — with 44.3 million people uninsured — is affecting everyone. However, that 10% of our population that is foreign-born has been particularly hard hit ” says study co-author Dr. Olveen Carasquillo, an internist at Columbia University.

“Almost half (43%) of all immigrants who are not citizens are uninsured, ” noted Carasquillo. “They are much less likely to receive health benefits at work and are also less likely to receive safety-net government-sponsored insurance programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”

Major findings of the study include:

* Immigrants have low-rates of employer-sponsored health coverage. Half (51%) of all non-citizen immigrants who work full-time are uninsured – 3.34 million people.

* Immigrants make up a small percentage (less than 5%) of people with government-sponsored health insurance.
43.3% of non-citizen immigrant children are uninsured – one million children. In addition, under current federal laws if these children entered the country after 1996 they are not eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

* Country of origin makes a big difference. Immigrants are more like to be insured if they are from countries like Russia or Cuba (hence eligible for citizenship) or Europe or Canada. Immigrants from Central America, Haiti, Vietnam, and Korea are most likely to lack coverage. In fact, over 50% of all immigrants from Mexico and Central America did not have health insurance.

* Immigrants who are not citizens (62.9% of all immigrants) and their children are more likely to be uninsured. 43.6% of non-citizen immigrants are uninsured, compared with 18.5% of immigrants who have become US citizens. (The study used data from the 1998 Current Population Survey conducted by the Census Bureau. The CPS does not ask respondents if they are legal immigrants).

“The billions of dollars that the federal government is spending to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care will only succeed when every person in this country, including all immigrants, has equal access to our health care system,” said Dr. Elena Rios, President of the National Hispanic Medical Association.

“Expecting people to work productively when they have no access to care for themselves or their children is not just inhumane, it’s bad economics,” said Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of PNHP. “We need a not-for-profit, national health system that covers all residents, regardless of age, immigration status, employment, race, and ethnicity.

Copies of “Health Insurance Coverage of Immigrants Living in the United States: Differences by Citizenship Status and Country of Origin,” O. Carasquillo, A. Carasquillo and Steven Shea, American Journal of Public Health, June, 2000 are available from PNHP at (312) 554-0382.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles of Interest

  • Medicare Enrollment Proposals Would Speed Shift to Private Care
  • Trump’s CMS dramatically raises payments to Medicare Advantage plans
  • Medicaid cuts? Work requirements? They'd make health care worse for all.
  • Dr. Oz and the Plot Against Medicare
  • Medicine Demands Trust—Dr. Oz Has Spent His Career Undermining It
  • About PNHP
    • Mission Statement
    • Board of Directors
    • National Office Staff
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Local Chapters
    • Students for a National Health Program
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Single Payer
    • What is Single Payer?
      • Policy Details
      • FAQs
      • History of Health Reform
      • Información en EspaƱol
    • How do we pay for it?
    • Physicians’ Proposal
      • Full Proposal
      • Supplemental Materials
      • Media Coverage
    • The Medicare for All Act of 2025
  • Take Action
    • Moral Injury and Distress
    • Medical Society Resolutions
    • Recruit Colleagues
    • Schedule a Grand Rounds
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Lobby Visits
    • Organizing in Red Districts
  • Heal Medicare
    • HealMedicare.org
    • Sign our Petition
    • Take our Survey
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Stop REACH
  • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Maternal Mortality
    • Mental Health Care
    • Health Care Voters Guide
    • COVID-19 Endangers Health Workers
    • COVID-19 Exacerbates Racial Inequities
    • Public Health Emergencies
    • Rural Health Care
    • Racial Health Inequities
    • Surprise Billing
  • Latest News
    • Sign up for e-alerts
    • Medicare Advantage harms report
    • Members in the news
    • Health Justice Monitor
    • Articles of Interest
    • Latest Research
    • For the Press
  • Member Resources
    • 2024 Annual Meeting Materials
    • Newsletter
    • Slideshows
    • Materials & Handouts
    • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • COVID-19 Response
      • Why we Need Medicare for All
      • PNHP’s 8-point plan
      • New Study: Perils and Possibilities
      • Emergency COVID-19 Legislation
      • Kitchen Table Toolkit
      • Take Action on COVID-19
      • Telling your COVID-19 story
      • PNHP members in the news
    • Events Calendar
    • Webinars
    • Film Room
    • Join or renew your membership

Footer

  • About PNHP
    • Mission Statement
    • Board of Directors
    • National Office Staff
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Local Chapters
    • Students for a National Health Program
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Single Payer
    • What is Single Payer?
      • Policy Details
      • FAQs
      • History of Health Reform
      • Información en EspaƱol
    • How do we pay for it?
    • Physicians’ Proposal
      • Full Proposal
      • Supplemental Materials
      • Media Coverage
    • The Medicare for All Act of 2025
  • Take Action
    • Moral Injury and Distress
    • Medical Society Resolutions
    • Recruit Colleagues
    • Schedule a Grand Rounds
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Lobby Visits
    • Organizing in Red Districts
  • Heal Medicare
    • HealMedicare.org
    • Sign our Petition
    • Take our Survey
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Stop REACH
  • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • Medicare Disadvantage
    • Maternal Mortality
    • Mental Health Care
    • Health Care Voters Guide
    • COVID-19 Endangers Health Workers
    • COVID-19 Exacerbates Racial Inequities
    • Public Health Emergencies
    • Rural Health Care
    • Racial Health Inequities
    • Surprise Billing
  • Latest News
    • Sign up for e-alerts
    • Medicare Advantage harms report
    • Members in the news
    • Health Justice Monitor
    • Articles of Interest
    • Latest Research
    • For the Press
  • Member Resources
    • 2024 Annual Meeting Materials
    • Newsletter
    • Slideshows
    • Materials & Handouts
    • Kitchen Table Campaign
    • COVID-19 Response
      • Why we Need Medicare for All
      • PNHP’s 8-point plan
      • New Study: Perils and Possibilities
      • Emergency COVID-19 Legislation
      • Kitchen Table Toolkit
      • Take Action on COVID-19
      • Telling your COVID-19 story
      • PNHP members in the news
    • Events Calendar
    • Webinars
    • Film Room
    • Join or renew your membership
©2025 PNHP