Deflating the Myths Immigrants and the Use of Medical Services in the United States Leo R. Chavez April 7, 2008 LMSA Presentation, UCI School of Medicine.

Deflating the Myths

Immigrants and the Use of Medical Services in the United States

Leo R. ChavezApril 7, 2008

LMSA Presentation, UCI School of Medicine

Myth 1

• Today’s immigrants are different from yesterday’s immigrants

Immigrants and disease

• Chinese: plague

• Irish: Typhoid Mary

• Haitians: Aids

Myth 2

• Today’s immigrants, especially Mexicans and other Latin Americans, are overusing medical services

Immigrants = 20% of uninsured

MYTH 3

• Giving undocumented immigrants health care and/or medical insurance will act as a magnet resulting in new undocumented migration

MYTH 4

• Latina immigrants and their offspring have excessively high, even pathologically high, fertility levels

Samuel P. Huntington, Foreign Policy 2004

• “In this new era, the single most immediate and most serious challenge to America’s traditional identity comes from immense and continuing immigration from Latin America, especially from Mexico, and the fertility rates of those immigrants compared to black and white American natives.”

Declines in Fertility

Mexican-origin Women and Anglo Women, ages 18-44

Source: U.S. Census

3.5

1.27

4.4

1.81

1970 20000

1

2

3

4

5

Mexican-origin women Anglo women

Total Children Ever Born

Latinas and Anglo Women in Orange County

Source: CRLGS 2006 Survey

2.38

1.631.78

2.21

1.91

1.28 1.271.16

Latina immig 2nd Gen 3rd Gen Anglos0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

All ages

<45

MYTH 5

• In places that are relatively rich, such as Orange County, health care is good for everyone

Families in Poverty

Orange County 1999

US Census Bureau

15.8

9.1

2.8

7.9

Latinos Asian Am Whites African Am0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Percent of Families in Poverty

Source: CRLGS 2006

Private or Government Insurance

Latinos (N=805) and Anglos (N=398) in Orange County, California

Source: Center for Research on Lations in a Global Society Survey 2006

45

56

75 73

90

No status Legal Res Naturalized US-born Anglos0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent with Insurance

LACK OF MEDICAL CARE

“I don’t have insurance. In my opinion, if one doesn’t have insurance, it’s bad because, well, here cures are expensive and, well you know, sometimes for many people, what we earn is not enough even to eat and live. So when we have these types of illnesses, we don’t go to the doctor because of a lack of money.”

Mexican Immigrant

Sought Medical Care in Last Year

Latinos (N=805) and Anglos (N=398) in Orange County, California

Source: Center for Research on Lations in a Global Society Survey 2006

55

68

78 80

89

No status Legal Res Naturalized US-born Anglos0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent with Insurance

Sought Medical Care in Last Year

Latinos (N=805) and Anglos (N=398) in Orange County, California

Source: Center for Research on Lations in a Global Society Survey 2006

55

68

78 80

89

No status Legal Res Naturalized US-born Anglos0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent with Insurance

Private or Government Insurance

Latinos (N=805) and Anglos (N=398) in Orange County, California

Source: Center for Research on Lations in a Global Society Survey 2006

45

56

75 73

90

No status Legal Res Naturalized US-born Anglos0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent with Insurance

Variable Beta S.E. Exp(B) Significance

Years in U.S./Age .011 .006 1.01 .045Private/Gov’t Insurance .941 .177 2.56 .000Latino/Anglo .198 .271 1.22 .464$35,000+ Family Income .509 .193 1.66 .008Male/Female .789 .170 2.20 .00013+ Years of School .441 .199 1.55 .027

Constant -3.589 .484 0.03 .000Model X2 = .000.

Table 6. Logistic Regression. Dependent variable: Sought medical care in U.S. in last 12 months. Latinos and Anglos in Orange County, California.

Source: Center for Research on Latinos in a Global Society Telephone Survey 2006.

Source: CRLGS Survey 2006

Table Logistic Regression. Dependent variable: Sought medical care in U.S. in last 12 months. Latinos Only in Orange County, California.

Variables in the Equation

.855 .193 19.689 1 .000 2.352

.254 .227 1.254 1 .263 1.289

.720 .216 11.172 1 .001 2.055

.482 .228 4.456 1 .035 1.619

-.005 .198 .001 1 .981 .995

.917 .195 21.995 1 .000 2.501

-4.034 .585 47.611 1 .000 .018

privgovins2

incomecat2

undoclegal

educcategory

kidliveswith

sex

Constant

Step1

a

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)

Variable(s) entered on step 1: privgovins2, incomecat2, undoclegal, educcategory,kidliveswith, sex.

a.

MYTH 6

• Immigrants are unhealthy that is why they use so much health care

Low Birth Weight (<2,500 grams) per 1000 Live Births

In Orange County, by selected groups

OC HCA 2002

53

71

60

93

Latinos Asian Am Whites African Am0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Number of Low Weight Babies Per 1,000 Live Births

Heart Disease Orange County

Age Adjusted, per 100,000

OC HCA 2002

168 169

257

366

Latinos Asian Am Whites African Am0

100

200

300

400

Heart Disease Rate per 100,000

Life Expectancy in California

PPIC 2004

81 8378

72

Latinos Asian Am Whites African Am0

20

40

60

80

100

Expected Years of Life

MYTH 7

• Immigrants are just “takers” not “contributors”

Contributions

• $25 billion agricultural industry in California and Orange County

• $15 billion in remittances to families and communities in Mexico

• $7 billion a year in subsidies to Social Security by undocumented immigrants