U.S. IMMIGRANTS OFTEN LACK MEDICAL INSURANCE
Tuesday, July 18, 2000 12:28 PM EDT
Washington, Jul 18, 2000 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Immigrants and their families have accounted for more than half of the increase in the U.S. population that lacks medical insurance since 1993, according to a Center for Immigration Studies report released Tuesday.
Another study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and published this week in Health Affairs magazine, revealed that few immigrants come to the United States because of the possible health care benefits they may receive.
In the United States, some 44 million people lack health insurance, paying cash for medical services or seeking free or subsidized assistance at public hospitals and clinics. Many people survive without medical care.
The Center for Immigration Studies report indicated that legal and illegal immigrants and their families accounted for 59 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1993.
According to the report, the number of people lacking medical insurance could rise by three or four million over the next decade if something is not done to remedy the situation.
As a solution, the center is lobbying for greater restrictions on immigration.
"Immigration plays a major role in the problem of the (medically) uninsured population," study author Steven Camarota said, adding that 26 percent of the uninsured live in households headed by an immigrant.
The study also revealed that even immigrants who live in households with high incomes -- 75,000 dollars per year or more -- tend to have the lowest rates of insurance coverage, compared to their native counterparts.
The report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation concluded that a majority of immigrants travel to the United States in search of employment or family reunification.
"Preventing undocumented immigrants who are already in the United States from receiving assistance from government health care programs would not, probably, reduce immigration levels," the foundation report said. EFE
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