Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 14, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 146-155

Variations in healthcare access and utilization among Mexican immigrants: The role of documentation status (Article) (Open Access)

Vargas Bustamante A.* , Fang H. , Garza J. , Carter-Pokras O. , Wallace S.P. , Rizzo J.A. , Ortega A.N.
  • a Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, United States
  • b Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver, 13001 East 17th Avenue, Aurora, CO 80045, United States
  • c UCLA School of Public Health, Box 951772, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
  • d Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD 20742, United States
  • e UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, UCLA School of Public Health, 10960 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States
  • f Preventive Medicine and Economics, Department of Economics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, United States
  • g Health Services and Psychiatry and Bio-behavioral Sciences, UCLA, Box 951772, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify differences in healthcare access and utilization among Mexican immigrants by documentation status. Crosssectional survey data are analyzed to identify differences in healthcare access and utilization across Mexican immigrant categories. Multivariable logistic regression and the Blinder- Oaxaca decomposition are used to parse out differences into observed and unobserved components. Mexican immigrants ages 18 and above who are immigrants of California households and responded to the 2007 California Health Interview Survey (2,600 documented and 1,038 undocumented immigrants). Undocumented immigrants from Mexico are 27% less likely to have a doctor visit in the previous year and 35% less likely to have a usual source of care compared to documented Mexican immigrants after controlling for confounding variables. Approximately 88% of these disparities can be attributed to predisposing, enabling and need determinants in our model. The remaining disparities are attributed to unobserved heterogeneity. This study shows that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are much less likely to have a physician visit in the previous year and a usual source of care compared to documented immigrants from Mexico. The recently approved Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will not reduce these disparities unless undocumented immigrants are granted some form of legal status. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011.

Author Keywords

Health care reform emigrants and immigrants Mexican Americans and Evaluation Access Health care quality Delivery of health Undocumented immigrants Quality of health care Hispanic Americans Healthcare disparities

Index Keywords

health care policy human middle aged statistics Health Surveys ethnology Mexico United States Young Adult Humans classification Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants female Article adult migration legal aspect health care quality Quality of Health Care Utilization Review Health Care Reform Healthcare Disparities health care disparity Health Services Accessibility primary health care health care delivery health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84860557163&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-010-9406-9&partnerID=40&md5=960a87631ebdb9ea881655eedbc0ab27
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-010-9406-9
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 123
Original Language: English