Deflating the Myths

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Deflating the Myths

• Immigrants and the Use of Medical Services in the
  United States
• Leo R. Chavez
• April 7, 2008
• LMSA Presentation, UCI School of Medicine

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Myth 1

• Todays immigrants are different from yesterdays
  immigrants

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Immigrants and disease

• Chinese plague
• Irish Typhoid Mary
• Haitians Aids

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Myth 2

• Todays immigrants, especially Mexicans and other
  Latin Americans, are overusing medical services

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Immigrants 20 of uninsured
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MYTH 3

• Giving undocumented immigrants health care and/or
  medical insurance will act as a magnet resulting
  in new undocumented migration

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MYTH 4

• Latina immigrants and their offspring have
  excessively high, even pathologically high,
  fertility levels

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Samuel P. Huntington, Foreign Policy 2004

• In this new era, the single most immediate and
  most serious challenge to Americas traditional
  identity comes from immense and continuing
  immigration from Latin America, especially from
  Mexico, and the fertility rates of those
  immigrants compared to black and white American
  natives.

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MYTH 5

• In places that are relatively rich, such as
  Orange County, health care is good for everyone

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Source CRLGS 2006
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LACK OF MEDICAL CARE I dont have insurance.
In my opinion, if one doesnt have insurance,
its bad because, well, here cures are expensive
and, well you know, sometimes for many people,
what we earn is not enough even to eat and live.
So when we have these types of illnesses, we
dont go to the doctor because of a lack of
money. Mexican Immigrant
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Table 6. Logistic Regression. Dependent
variable Sought medical care in U.S. in last
12 months. Latinos and Anglos in Orange County,
California.
Variable Beta S.E. Exp(B) Significance Years
in U.S./Age .011 .006 1.01 .045 Private/Govt
Insurance .941 .177 2.56 .000 Latino/Anglo .198
.271 1.22 .464 35,000 Family Income
.509 .193 1.66 .008 Male/Female .789 .170 2.20
.000 13 Years of School .441 .199 1.55 .027 Con
stant -3.589 .484 0.03 .000 Model X2
.000.
Source Center for Research on Latinos in a
Global Society Telephone Survey 2006.
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Table Logistic Regression. Dependent variable
Sought medical care in U.S. in last 12 months.
Latinos Only in Orange County, California.
Source CRLGS Survey 2006
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MYTH 6

• Immigrants are unhealthy that is why they use so
  much health care

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MYTH 7

• Immigrants are just takers not contributors

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Contributions

• 25 billion agricultural industry in California
  and Orange County
• 15 billion in remittances to families and
  communities in Mexico
• 7 billion a year in subsidies to Social Security
  by undocumented immigrants