Are undocumented immigrants to blame for the rising costs of medical care in the United States?
It’s an accusation and talking point some lawmakers have used to garner support for the creation of a fence to keep undocumented immigrants — specifically, Mexicans — out of the country.
However, according to a new study from the University of California Los Angeles’ Center for Health Policy Research, undocumented immigrants should not be blamed for our expensive medical care, since they are least likely to visit the emergency room. In fact, the uninsured residents who visit the ER more often than any other group are the ones responsible for ever-inflating medical service prices.
The study, which was published in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs, found that undocumented immigrants in California are less likely to see a doctor or end up in the ER, compared to U.S. citizens and documented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are not the health burden that some have perceived them to be, the study concluded.
After analyzing responses to the 2001 and 2009 California Health Interview Surveys, the UCLA researchers found that while one in five U.S.-born adults will visit the ER annually, only one in 10 undocumented adults will visit the ER, a trend that researchers believe has continued in recent years, as well.
“Most people who go to the emergency room have insurance and are not worried about providing documents,” said Nadereh Pourat, the study’s lead author and director of research at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “The undocumented who end up in the emergency room have often delayed getting any care until they are critically sick.”
However, the study also found that there is a chance undocumented immigrants could become a financial burden for the U.S. medical care system in the future because many don’t currently seek any sort of preventative care.
According to the researchers, the average American citizen sees a doctor 2.8 times a year as a child and 3.2 times a year as an adult. But among undocumented immigrants, children see a doctor 2.3 times a year and adults see a medical professional about 1.3 times a year.
A delay in visiting a doctor sometimes results in the rapid progression of disease. Those advanced stages of disease often require more expensive treatments, which is why the authors argue that undocumented immigrants should be given access to health insurance in the U.S. — even if they are not technically citizens.
Pourat and her co-authors argue that the Affordable Care Act should be extended to the estimated 2.2 million or more undocumented immigrants in California. The authors believe that doing so would ensure that ER visits made by undocumented immigrants would continue to occur less often than documented residents — or at least be about the same rate.
The authors made it a point to stress that many undocumented immigrants are young and relatively healthy, so premiums would likely remain low. They also indicated that providing health coverage for these men, women and children would “reduce the burden of uncompensated care on safety-net providers, particularly in California, where larger numbers of undocumented immigrants live.”
“The great majority of undocumented in California are working-age adults who contribute greatly to California’s economy by working in physically demanding service, agriculture and construction jobs,” Pourat wrote. “It makes financial sense to make sure they have affordable health coverage options so they can stay healthy.”
Elsa Quezada, executive director of the Salinas, Calif.,-based Central Coast Center for Independent Living, agrees that the undocumented community would benefit from the ability to purchase health insurance in the United States.
Earlier this week, Quezada, who also serves as a leader in Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, testified before the Monterey County Board of Supervisors that there needs to be a greater effort to inform undocumented workers about what health service options are available to them. This outreach could be as simple as putting up flyers or distributing one-page documents, she said, adding that undocumented residents have some resources that can help them stay healthy.
“They are our neighbors, our friends, they go to church with us, they join us at the park, the rodeo, our restaurants and museums, and their children go to school with our children,” Quezada said about the need to provide health services for undocumented immigrants.
“Together we inhabit this great community. But our broken immigration system has left them on the margins for health care.”