http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=48729

New Research From EBRI: Immigrants Make Up a Growing Share of U.S. Population Without Health Insurance, Study Finds

WASHINGTON, June 13 /U.S. Newswire/ --

While the uninsured population of the United States is still dominated by native-born Americans, it is becoming increasingly comprised of immigrants, and the trend appears to be accelerating, a new study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows.

Immigrants accounted for just over 26 percent of the uninsured population in the United States in 2003, up from nearly 19 percent in 1994, the study reports. At the same time, the share of the uninsured population that was native-born fell to 74 percent in 2003 from 81 percent in 1994. Of the 44.7 million U.S. residents who were uninsured in 2003 (the latest year for which numbers are available), some 11.6 million were immigrants, the study says, compared with 6.9 million in 1994-a 70 percent increase.

"Immigrants accounted for about one-third of the increase in the uninsured between 1994 and 1998, but between 1998 and 2003 they accounted for 86 percent of the increase," said Paul Fronstin, director of the EBRI Health Research and Education Program.

"To the degree that immigration continues to increase, it is likely that the uninsured will also continue to increase." The study, "The Impact of Immigration on Health Insurance Coverage in the United States," is published in the June EBRI Notes, and is available on the Internet at http://www.ebri.org.