Full Citation

Title: Noncitizen Children Face Higher Health Harms Compared With Their Siblings Who Have US Citizen Status

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2021

ISBN:

ISSN: 15445208

DOI: 10.1377/HLTHAFF.2021.00065

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID: 34228524

Abstract: Immigrant children in the US have very limited health insurance coverage and health care access. Immigration status is not static: Census data show that the majority of census respondents who enter as noncitizen children eventually become citizens. Eligibility restrictions that prevent noncitizen children from being publicly insured can contribute to their experiencing poorer health and higher medical costs in their adult lives. We isolate the impact of lack of citizenship from socioeconomic factors by comparing citizen and noncitizen siblings living in mixed-status families, using fixed-effects models to net out socioeconomic factors shared within families. Lacking citizenship increased a child’s risk of being uninsured and lowered by 26 percentage points the chances that they would have Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage. Noncitizen children had significantly more delays in needed medical care because of cost, primarily mediated by the lack of insurance coverage. The US should reexamine policies that exclude noncitizen children from public health insurance programs.

Url: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00065

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Jewers, Mariellen; Ku, Leighton

Periodical (Full): Health Affairs

Issue: 7

Volume: 40

Pages: 1084-1089

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS, IPUMS Health Surveys - NHIS

Topics: Health, Migration and Immigration, Work, Family, and Time

Countries: