Health care expenditures of immigrants in the United States: a nationally representative analysis.
Am J Public Health
; 95(8): 1431-8, 2005 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-16043671
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
We compared the health care expenditures of immigrants residing in the United States with health care expenditures of US-born persons.METHODS:
We used the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the 1996-1997 National Health Interview Survey to analyze data on 18398 US-born persons and 2843 immigrants. Using a 2-part regression model, we estimated total health care expenditures, as well as expenditures for emergency department (ED) visits, office-based visits, hospital-based outpatient visits, inpatient visits, and prescription drugs.RESULTS:
Immigrants accounted for $39.5 billion (SE=$4 billion) in health care expenditures. After multivariate adjustment, per capita total health care expenditures of immigrants were 55% lower than those of US-born persons ($1139 vs $2546). Similarly, expenditures for uninsured and publicly insured immigrants were approximately half those of their US-born counterparts. Immigrant children had 74% lower per capita health care expenditures than US-born children. However, ED expenditures were more than 3 times higher for immigrant children than for US-born children.CONCLUSIONS:
Health care expenditures are substantially lower for immigrants than for US-born persons. Our study refutes the assumption that immigrants represent a disproportionate financial burden on the US health care system.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Gastos em Saúde
/
Emigração e Imigração
/
Serviços de Saúde
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
Limite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
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Male
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Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2005
Tipo de documento:
Article