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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Immigrants and Medicaid

The Center for Immigration Studies’ latest report concludes that 42 percent of immigrant households, both legal and illegal, used Medicaid in 2012. Only 23 percent of households headed by a native-born American used Medicaid.

The report also discusses other welfare, including housing, food stamps, et cetera. It is a very thorough report with a wealth of detail. For example, immigrant households from Latin America are more likely to claim welfare than the native-born, while immigrant households from Asia or Europe are less likely. However, when stratified by education or income, it appears that immigrants at the same level as the native-born are more dependent on welfare.

Medicaid is a serious burden on the nation’s prosperity, and if immigrants are a big factor that should certainly be a policy issue. Nevertheless, the report itself invites a number of questions for further inquiry.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

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