Abstract

MARCELLI, Enrico A.. The Unauthorized Residency Status Myth: Health Insurance Coverage and Medical Care Use among Mexican Immigrants in California. Migr. Inter [online]. 2004, vol.2, n.4, pp.5-35. ISSN 2594-0279.

Informed by recent developments in the behavioral model of medical care use and social epidemiology, this article employs survey data to estimate whether unauthorized residency status among non-elderly Mexican and other-Latino immigrant adults in California influenced the probability of having had health insurance and having received medical care. Unauthorized residency status is estimated to have decreased the probability of having been insured, and augmented the probability of having relied on public health insurance. However, after controlling for other individual characteristics, neighborhood context, and social capital, neither insurance nor residency status appears to have influenced whether a person obtained needed medical care. Rather, neighborhood context, difficulty locating a medical care facility, and civic engagement appear to be more important for understanding use of medical services.

Keywords : international migration; medical care; undocumented migrants; Mexico; United States.