Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 14, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 345-349

Health insurance moderates the association between immigrant length of stay and health status (Article)

Lee S.* , O'Neill A. , Park J. , Scully L. , Shenassa E.
  • a Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, United States
  • b Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, United States
  • c Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
  • d Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, MD 20742, United States
  • e Department of Family Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States

Abstract

Previous studies reported that immigrants' health worsens with acculturation to US lifestyle; however, role of health insurance has not been investigated. We used crosssectional National Immigrant Survey (n = 6,381) to examine the potential moderating effect of health insurance on the association between time in the US and self reported changes in health (comparing health status before and after immigration) and current health status. Separate logistic regression models were fit to assess these associations among insured and uninsured immigrants, adjusting for covariates. Among uninsured immigrants there was a stronger negative association between length of stay and health, compared to immigrants with health insurance. Insured immigrants were almost two times more likely than uninsured immigrants to have received preventive screenings, such as a Pap smear or prostate exam. This suggests that health insurance may somewhat attenuate this association, and is an important resource for US immigrants. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011.

Author Keywords

Immigrant Acculturation Screening Health insurance Health status

Index Keywords

regression analysis insurance health insurance human Health Behavior sex difference middle aged statistics Insurance Coverage health status Time Factors length of stay Early Detection of Cancer ethnology Insurance, Health Cross-Sectional Studies United States cross-sectional study Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics Article adult migration Sex Factors time early diagnosis
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84860833586&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-010-9411-z&partnerID=40&md5=982f89e80e3c7be28fbedfb90b22e187
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-010-9411-z
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 14
Original Language: English