Civic Stratification and the Exclusion of Undocumented Immigrants from Cross-border Health Care. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Torres, Jacqueline M.; Waldinger, Roger
• Is Part Of: Journal of health & social behavior. Volume 56:Number 4(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 438
• Page End: 459
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: access to care -- civic stratification -- immigrant health -- political determinants of health -- social determinants of health; Medicine -- Periodicals; Mental illness -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1177/0022146515610617
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1465

Abstract

This paper proposes a theoretical framework and an empirical example of the relationship between the civic stratification of immigrants in the United States, and their access to healthcare. We use the 2007 Pew Hispanic Center/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Hispanic Healthcare Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. Latinos ( N = 2, 783 foreign-born respondents) and find that immigrants who are not citizens or legal permanent residents are significantly more likely to be excluded from care in both the United States and across borders. Legal-status differences in cross-border care utilization persisted after controlling for health status, insurance coverage, and other potential demographic and socioeconomic predictors of care. Exclusion from care on both sides of the border was associated with reduced rates of receiving timely preventive services. Civic stratification, and political determinants broadly speaking, should be considered alongside social determinants of population health and health care.