Just a small fraction of U.S. healthcare spending--about $1.1 billion in federal, state, and local government funds annually--is used to provide publicly supported care to undocumented immigrants, according to a RAND Corporation study published in Health Affairs. In contrast, $88 billion in government funds were spent on health care for all nonelderly adults in 2000.
Researchers developed their national estimates by analyzing information collected by the Los Angeles Family Neighborhood Study, which interviewed nearly 2,400 English- and Spanish-speaking adults throughout Los Angeles County during 2000 and 2001. Overall, immigrants use relatively few health services, primarily because they are healthier than American-born citizens, according to the study. Although the foreign-born make up 45% of Los Angeles County’s population, they accounted for just 33% of the region’s health spending in 2000. One-quarter of the foreign-born had never had a medical checkup, and one in nine had never visited a doctor--twice the rate seen among the native-born. Only 58% of undocumented immigrants had visited a doctor in the past year and only 11% had been hospitalized in the past two years. Foreign-born people also reported fewer health problems.
Researchers say some of the differences may be explained by the younger age of immigrants and a lower rate of diagnosis caused by their limited access to health services. But even when those factors are considered, immigrants appear healthier than the native-born.
