Health inequalities between ethnic majority and ethnic minority members are prevalent in contemporary European societies. In this study we used theories on socioeconomic deprivation and intersectionality to derive expectations on how ethnic inequalities in health may be exacerbated or mitigated by national healthcare policies. To test our hypotheses we used data from six waves of the European Social Survey (2002-2012) on 172,491 individuals living in 24 countries. In line with previous research, our results showed that migrants report lower levels of health than natives. In general a country's healthcare expenditure appears to reduce socioeconomic differences in health, but at the same time induces health differences between recent migrants and natives. We also found that specific policies aimed at reducing socioeconomic inequalities in health appeared to work as intended, but as a side-effect amplified differences between natives and recent migrants in self-assessed health and well-being. Finally, our results indicated that policies specifically directed at the improvement of migrants' health, only affected well-being for migrants who have lived in the receiving country for more than 10 years. © 2016.

comparative research Intersectionality Health Multilevel modelling Healthcare systems Ethnic inequality

education health care policy Europe indigenous people health disparity Health Status Disparities human wellbeing middle aged Ethnic Groups statistics and numerical data health service ethnic group comparative study health status Cross-Sectional Studies Surveys and Questionnaires health care cost quality of life health expenditure migrant ethnic difference cross-sectional study socioeconomic conditions Humans male female socioeconomics questionnaire Article health care adult utilization Health Policy Delivery of Health Care health care delivery