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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Study: Immigrants spend less on health care in U.S.

    www.mercurynews.com

    Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005



    Study: Immigrants spend less on health care in U.S.
    CHILDREN IN PARTICULAR RECEIVE MANY FEWER SERVICES THAN THE NATIVE-BORN

    By Jessie Mangaliman
    Mercury News

    Immigrants in the United States spend less than half what native-born residents spend per capita on health care, according to a new study from Harvard and Columbia universities published Monday in the American Journal of Public Health.

    Using government data from the U.S. Department of Health's Agency for Healthcare Research, the authors of the study said what they learned ``refutes the assumption that immigrants represent a disproportionate financial burden on the U.S. health care system.''

    ``The view that immigrants are taking away from others is sheer demagoguery,'' said one of the study authors, Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. ``Politicians have seized the issue and hold the view that immigrants are clogging emergency rooms. That's simply not true.''

    Described as the first national study on the health care expenditures of immigrants, the study involved a complex analysis of 1998 government data, comparing what immigrants and the native-born spent on emergency room visits, hospital visits and prescription drugs.

    On average, an immigrant spent $1,139 annually on health care, compared with $2,546 for a U.S.-born resident. Latinos spent even less. U.S.-born Latinos spent $1,870, compared with $962 for foreign-born Latinos.

    The study also found that immigrant children received dramatically less health care than U.S.-born children: 71 percent less in doctor's visits and 72 percent less prescription medications.

    Although immigrant children visited emergency rooms half as much as U.S.-born children, their average per capita expenditures were greater.

    The data on immigrant children suggests that when they visit emergency rooms, they are sicker, the study authors said.

    The study fuels a longstanding national debate about immigration and its economic costs.

    Advocates of limits to immigration and a crackdown on undocumented immigrants criticized the report, saying that it used old data and fails to take into account the true cost of immigrant health care -- particularly to the undocumented -- at the country's public hospitals.

    ``You can't determine whether immigrants are a burden to the health care system simply by this kind of analysis,'' said Steven A. Camarota, a research analyst at the Washington think tank Center for Immigration Studies. ``That doesn't tell you very much. You have to find out what they pay in taxes.''

    Diana Hull, president of the Californians for Population Stabilization, a group that calls for a moratorium on immigration, challenged the study because it did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

    Uninsured illegal immigrants turn to public hospitals for health care, and local and federal governments now shoulder the cost of providing this care, Hull said.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member CountFloyd's Avatar
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    Immigrants in the United States spend less than half what native-born residents spend per capita on health care, according to a new study from Harvard and Columbia universities published Monday in the American Journal of Public Health.
    Point One: They lump legal and illegal immigrants together.

    Point Two: Since illegals use emergency rooms as their preferred medical provider and frequently don't pay the tab, it's possible that immigrants do "spend" less than native born people do. That doesn't mean they cost the medical system less, however, a point that this "study" is desparately trying to make.
    It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Ran across a bunch more articles on this topic. Thought it might be interesting to compare how each web site spins the same story.

    www.washingtonpost.com

    Study Paints Bleak Picture Of Immigrant Health Care

    By Ceci Connolly
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Tuesday, July 26, 2005; A11



    Regardless of age, legal status or insurance coverage, immigrants, on average, receive about half the health care services provided to native-born Americans, according to findings released yesterday that immediately fueled the debate over tightening immigration policies.

    Immigrants received an average of $1,139 worth of care, compared with $2,564 for non-immigrants, according to the analysis, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The gap was especially pronounced among immigrant children, who received one-quarter the care given to U.S.-born youngsters.

    "Our study lays to rest the myth that expensive care for immigrants is responsible for our nation's high health costs," said co-author Sarita Mohanty, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California. "The truth is, immigrants get far less care than other Americans."

    The report is based on government data that tabulated health spending for 21,000 people in 1998, the most recent year for which figures were available. The analysis includes legal and illegal immigrants.

    "If we think our high health care costs are due to immigrants flocking to our shores, we're wrong," said co-author David Himmelstein of Harvard Medical School. Although immigrants accounted for 10 percent of the population, they consumed 8 percent of total health services, the study found.

    Some immigration experts, however, said that tracking per capita spending ignores the larger societal costs of a growing immigrant population that is far less likely to have health insurance.

    "The fact that immigrants, when uninsured, might use 27 percent less medical care doesn't change the fact that they're 200 percent more likely to be uninsured in the first place," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors strict controls on immigration. "Why have a system that allows in so many people who aren't self-sufficient?"

    Immigrants account for 18 percent of the costs associated with the uninsured -- expenses likely to be borne by taxpayers and charities, Camarota said.

    Both sides said financial, cultural and language differences all make it hard for immigrants to afford care, understand medical advice or embrace recommendations from American doctors and nurses.

    A much higher percentage of adult immigrants lack a high school education, which makes it difficult for them to navigate the health care system, said Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association.

    "They don't understand the lingo," such as what a cholesterol reading signifies, she said. "Because of limited education levels, you can't connect the dots and think about what prevention like physical exercise means in terms of the future and things like heart disease and cancer."

    Immigrants often live in low-income neighborhoods with fewer hospitals, clinics, physicians and pharmacies, she said. And many Latin Americans, coming from countries with government-run health systems, are unfamiliar with the concept of buying insurance.

    In addition, many immigrants do not qualify for government health programs that are targeted at specific groups such as retirees, American Indians and veterans, Camarota said.

    Over the long term, Himmelstein said, the potential ramifications for children are most alarming. The data showed immigrant children had fewer doctor visits, took less medication and made fewer trips to the emergency room. But their emergency room costs were nearly triple those for non-immigrant children, suggesting that immigrant families missed routine checkups and waited until a condition was more serious before seeking treatment, Himmelstein said.

    It is far more likely, he said, that immigrant children do not receive standard vaccinations and let chronic problems such as asthma go untreated.

    Even better-educated, insured immigrants -- and U.S.-born minorities -- received less care, probably because of racism and cultural differences, Mohanty said.

    The paper's authors, who are active in the liberal Physicians for a National Health Program, said one solution would be to provide everyone with basic health coverage. Short of that, they advocated lifting restrictions on government health programs and easing entry into employer-provided health plans.

    Camarota, who agreed that legal immigrants should have greater access to care, said lawmakers need to take a more critical look at who is allowed into the United States. He said, "The solution to the problem is make them go home or not let them in in the first place."





    www.statesman.com

    Immigrants subsidize citizen health care
    New study shows immigrants pay for more than they get, but illegal immigration's impact remains disputed

    By Juan Castillo

    AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

    Tuesday, July 26, 2005

    Far from burdening the health care system, immigrants are subsidizing medical care for native-born Americans, according to a Harvard/Columbia University study weighing in on one of the flash points in debate over immigration.

    The report, which was released Monday and appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health, concludes that immigrants, many of whom pay Medicare payroll and other taxes, receive less than half as much health care as native-born families. Immigrant children, in particular, receive 74 percent less health care than U.S.-born children. Latino immigrantshad the lowest health expenditures.

    The report, however, leaves unanswered questions about the impact illegal immigrants have on health care costs. Proponents of strict immigration control often argue that illegal immigrants are a drain on health care, but there is little definitive data to support that argument.

    "These findings help refute the popular mythologies that immigrants are placing a disproportionate burden on the health care system," said Sarita Mohanty, a physician who led the study while she was at Harvard.

    Researchers said the findings argue against proposals to restrict immigrants' eligibility for government-subsidized care, because such policies would save little money and place many â€â€
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