Health insurance coverage and access to care for immigrants: key challenges and policy options
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- ASPE research report
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Office of Health Policy, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Health Policy, December 17, 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Emigrants and Immigrants -- statistics & numerical data Health Equity Health Services Accessibility Health Policy Health Status Healthcare Disparities Insurance Coverage -- statistics & numerical data Medically Uninsured -- statistics & numerical data COVID-19 United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The foreign-born population in the United States is large and diverse, and health outcomes vary widely across immigrant groups. However, barriers to health care and health insurance coverage are common due to the complex nature of the health care system, policy exclusions, cultural and linguistic barriers, discrimination, mistrust, and legal concerns. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and more recently the American Rescue Plan (ARP) expanded health coverage eligibility and subsidies for certain immigrant populations including naturalized citizens and lawful permanent residents. After passage of the ACA, the uninsured rate fell substantially for both children and adults in immigrant communities, with the largest change occurring among adult non-citizens who immigrated to the United States within the last 5 years (48.1 percent in 2013 to 30.6 percent in 2019). However, gaps in coverage for immigrants persist, with uninsured rates still substantially higher than those among the U.S.-born population. Several studies suggest that concerns over actual and perceived adverse legal consequences tied to seeking public benefits have affected whether or not immigrants seek to enroll in public programs and can lead to barriers to needed care. Additional actions at the national and state levels, including targeted outreach efforts, can be taken to increase health insurance coverage among eligible immigrant populations and to address challenges related to social determinants of health in order to improve health equity.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (21 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918574279106676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918574279106676