Both migrants and immigrants from Mexico, regardless of immigration status, face many barriers to healthcare in the United States, including language differences, lack of information about the healthcare system, and low socioeconomic status. Multiple studies have found that the greatest barriers are qualifying for health insurance and inadequate transportation.
There is a current estimate of 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. While most are believed to be young and healthy, this is not the case for all of them. Traditionally, this population has higher rates of occupational injuries due to more dangerous occupations, such as agriculture and construction, and less regulated working conditions. They also tend to have higher rates of obesity, chronic diseases, and stress, which are worsened by the tendency to forego regular health care.
A recent study from Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health focused on how mobility affects the ability of people to get health insurance and access health care with a study population of Mexican immigrants. From their survey, roughly 84% of Mexican immigrants and migrants had health insurance before they crossed the border, but that fell to 25-50% after crossing into the United States. 68% of immigrants and migrants reported having a usual source of care before leaving Mexico but only 42% reported having a source of care after returning to Mexico from the United States.
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The researchers found that immigrants and migrants tended to have less health care access in the United States, and even when they went back to Mexico temporarily, they continued to have trouble getting the care they needed. Migrants that find themselves crossing the border from Mexico to the US and then again back to Mexico also have trouble getting health insurance coverage on both sides. Employer-based health care and minimum-stay requirements for health insurance on both sides of the border make it difficult for such mobile populations to get health care.
A pilot survey on the California-Mexico border found that 71% of the surveyed migrants did not have health insurance in the United States. The majority of migrants also used outpatient community clinics and private doctor offices. Private practices may offer more anonymity for undocumented migrants, but such services tend to be significantly more expensive for a group already struggling with low incomes. Because of this, Mexican immigrants are more likely to use the emergency room as a primary source of care compared to immigrants from other countries and the general US population. These sorts of barriers to healthcare access result in the inappropriate use of costly health services, such as emergency room visits, expensive treatments for conditions that could have been prevented with earlier care, and the potential spread of untreated disease across borders.
Researchers have suggested the development of a portable health insurance program or expanding eligibility criteria to allow migrants, regardless of immigration status or length of residence, to qualify for the Affordable Care Act and Seguro Popular, a Mexican insurance program for the unemployed.
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