IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v38y2018i17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uninsured migrants: Health insurance coverage and access to care among Mexican return migrants

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Wassink

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract

Background: Despite an expansive body of research on health and access to medical care among Mexican immigrants in the United States, research on return migrants focuses primarily on their labor market mobility and contributions to local development. Objective: Motivated by recent scholarship that documents poor mental and physical health among Mexican return migrants, this study investigates return migrants’ health insurance coverage and access to medical care. Methods: I use descriptive and multivariate techniques to analyze data from the 2009 and 2014 rounds of Mexico’s National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID, combined n = 632,678). Results: Analyses reveal a large and persistent gap between recent return migrants and nonmigrants, despite rising overall health coverage in Mexico. Multivariate analyses suggest that unemployment among recent arrivals contributes to their lack of insurance. Relative to nonmigrants, recently returned migrants rely disproportionately on private clinics, pharmacies, self-medication, or have no regular source of care. Mediation analysis suggests that returnees’ high rate of uninsurance contributes to their inadequate access to care. Contribution: This study reveals limited access to medical care among the growing population of Mexican return migrants, highlighting the need for targeted policies to facilitate successful reintegration and ensure access to vital resources, such as health care.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Wassink, 2018. "Uninsured migrants: Health insurance coverage and access to care among Mexican return migrants," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(17), pages 401-428.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:17
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol38/17/38-17.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.17?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ullmann, S. Heidi & Goldman, Noreen & Massey, Douglas S., 2011. "Healthier before they migrate, less healthy when they return? The health of returned migrants in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 421-428, August.
    2. Arias-Vazquez, Francisco Javier & Azuara, Oliver & Bernal, Pedro & Heckman, James J. & Villarreal, Cajeme, 2010. "Policies to Promote Growth and Economic Efficiency in Mexico," IZA Discussion Papers 4740, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Jose N. Martinez & Ernesto Aguayo-Tellez & Erick Rangel-Gonzalez, 2015. "Explaining the Mexican-American Health Paradox Using Selectivity Effects," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 878-906, December.
    4. Creighton, Mathew J. & Goldman, Noreen & Pebley, Anne R. & Chung, Chang Y., 2012. "Durational and generational differences in Mexican immigrant obesity: Is acculturation the explanation?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 300-310.
    5. Anita A Davies & Rosilyne M Borland & Carolyn Blake & Haley E West, 2011. "The Dynamics of Health and Return Migration," Working Papers id:4331, eSocialSciences.
    6. Noreen Goldman & Anne Pebley & Mathew Creighton & Graciela Teruel & Luis Rubalcava & Chang Chung, 2014. "The Consequences of Migration to the United States for Short-Term Changes in the Health of Mexican Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1159-1173, August.
    7. Fernando Riosmena & Douglas S. Massey, 2012. "Pathways to El Norte: Origins, Destinations, and Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to the United States," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 3-36, March.
    8. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Puttitanun, Thitima & Martinez-Donate, Ana, 2013. "How Do Tougher Immigration Measures Impact Unauthorized Immigrants?," IZA Discussion Papers 7134, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Erika Arenas & Noreen Goldman & Anne Pebley & Graciela Teruel, 2015. "Return Migration to Mexico: Does Health Matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1853-1868, December.
    10. Michael S. Rendall & Susan W. Parker, 2014. "Two Decades of Negative Educational Selectivity of Mexican Migrants to the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 421-446, September.
    11. Andrés Villarreal & Sarah Blanchard, 2013. "How Job Characteristics Affect International Migration: The Role of Informality in Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 751-775, April.
    12. Jennifer Hook & Weiwei Zhang, 2011. "Who Stays? Who Goes? Selective Emigration Among the Foreign-Born," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, February.
    13. Guillermo E. Perry & William F. Maloney & Omar S. Arias & Pablo Fajnzylber & Andrew D. Mason & Jaime Saavedra-Chanduvi, 2007. "Informality : Exit and Exclusion," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6730.
    14. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    15. Wassink, J.T., 2016. "Implications of Mexican health care reform on the health coverage of nonmigrants and returning migrants," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(5), pages 848-850.
    16. Christina J. Diaz & Stephanie M. Koning & Ana P. Martinez-Donate, 2016. "Moving Beyond Salmon Bias: Mexican Return Migration and Health Selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 2005-2030, December.
    17. Anita A Davies & Rosilyne M Borland & Carolyn Blake & Haley E West, 2011. "The Dynamics of Health and Return Migration," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(6), pages 1-4, June.
    18. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Thitima Puttitanun & Ana Martinez-Donate, 2013. "How Do Tougher Immigration Measures Affect Unauthorized Immigrants?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 1067-1091, June.
    19. Emma Aguila & Julie Zissimopoulos, 2013. "Retirement and health benefits for Mexican migrant workers returning from the United States," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(2), pages 101-125, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pan, Yan & Zhong, Wen-fang & Yin, Rong & Zheng, Meng & Xie, Kun & Cheng, Shu-yuan & Ling, Li & Chen, Wen, 2022. "Does direct settlement of intra-province medical reimbursements improve financial protection among middle-aged and elderly population in China? Evidence based on CHARLS data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    2. Joshua Wassink, 2018. "Is Local Social Development Associated with Workforce Composition? A Municipal Analysis of Mexico, 1990–2015," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(6), pages 941-966, December.
    3. Nareerut Pudpong & Nicolas Durier & Sataporn Julchoo & Pigunkaew Sainam & Beena Kuttiparambil & Rapeepong Suphanchaimat, 2019. "Assessment of a Voluntary Non-Profit Health Insurance Scheme for Migrants along the Thai–Myanmar Border: A Case Study of the Migrant Fund in Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Padilla, Tatiana & Reyes, Adriana, 2024. "Hitting closer to home: State policies’ impacts on health by race and legal status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christina J. Diaz & Liwen Zeng & Ana P. Martinez-Donate, 2018. "Investigating Health Selection Within Mexico and Across the US Border," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 181-204, April.
    2. Christina J. Diaz & Stephanie M. Koning & Ana P. Martinez-Donate, 2016. "Moving Beyond Salmon Bias: Mexican Return Migration and Health Selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 2005-2030, December.
    3. Fernando Riosmena & Randall Kuhn & Warren C. Jochem, 2017. "Explaining the Immigrant Health Advantage: Self-selection and Protection in Health-Related Factors Among Five Major National-Origin Immigrant Groups in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 175-200, February.
    4. Mao-Mei Liu & Mathew J. Creighton & Fernando Riosmena & Pau Baizan, 2016. "Prospects for the comparative study of international migration using quasi-longitudinal micro-data," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(26), pages 745-782.
    5. Neil K. Mehta & Irma T. Elo & Michal Engelman & Diane S. Lauderdale & Bert M. Kestenbaum, 2016. "Life Expectancy Among U.S.-born and Foreign-born Older Adults in the United States: Estimates From Linked Social Security and Medicare Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(4), pages 1109-1134, August.
    6. Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez & Alberto Palloni & Fernando Riosmena & Rebeca Wong, 2016. "SES Gradients Among Mexicans in the United States and in Mexico: A New Twist to the Hispanic Paradox?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1555-1581, October.
    7. Fernando Riosmena, 2016. "The Potential and Limitations of Cross-Context Comparative Research on Migration," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 666(1), pages 28-45, July.
    8. Joshua Wassink, 2018. "Is Local Social Development Associated with Workforce Composition? A Municipal Analysis of Mexico, 1990–2015," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(6), pages 941-966, December.
    9. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Sevilla, Almudena, 2018. "Immigration enforcement and economic resources of children with likely unauthorized parents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 63-78.
    10. Amelie F. Constant, 2017. "The Healthy Immigrant Paradox and Health Convergence," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 15(03), pages 20-25, October.
    11. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2014. "On the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Enhanced U.S. Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement: Evidence From Mexican Deportees," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2255-2279, December.
    12. Vargas, Edward D., 2015. "Immigration enforcement and mixed-status families: The effects of risk of deportation on Medicaid use," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 83-89.
    13. Bandyopadhyay, Subhayu & Pinto, Santiago M., 2017. "Unauthorized immigration and fiscal competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 283-305.
    14. Claudia Masferrer & Bryan Roberts, 2012. "Going Back Home? Changing Demography and Geography of Mexican Return Migration," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(4), pages 465-496, August.
    15. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Mary J. Lopez, 2018. "Impeding or Accelerating Assimilation? Immigration Enforcement and Its Impact on Naturalization Patterns," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1814, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    16. Margot Moinester, 2018. "Beyond the Border and Into the Heartland: Spatial Patterning of U.S. Immigration Detention," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 1147-1193, June.
    17. Kate W. Strully & Robert Bozick & Ying Huang & Lane F. Burgette, 2020. "Employer Verification Mandates and Infant Health," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(6), pages 1143-1184, December.
    18. Jonathan A. Muir & Michael R. Cope & Leslie R. Angeningsih & Jorden E. Jackson & Ralph B. Brown, 2019. "Migration and Mental Health in the Aftermath of Disaster: Evidence from Mt. Merapi, Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-19, July.
    19. Levchenko, Yuliana, 2021. "Aging into disadvantage: Disability crossover among Mexican immigrants in America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    20. Kabir, Kayenat & Keeney, Roman M., 2017. "Modeling undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States – A structural examination of available information and options for analysis," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258376, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; migration; health care; return migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.