{"id":631419,"date":"2018-10-03T13:45:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T19:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=631419"},"modified":"2018-10-04T08:23:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T14:23:26","slug":"immigrants-health-premiums-far-exceed-what-plans-pay-for-their-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/10\/immigrants-health-premiums-far-exceed-what-plans-pay-for-their-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrants&#8217; health premiums far exceed what plans pay for their care"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_145694\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-145694\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-771x476.jpg\" alt=\"Border Patrol\" width=\"771\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-771x476.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-336x207.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol-1170x722.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BorderPatrol.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scene from the U.S.\/Mexico border. In the foreground, behind a barbed-wire fence, U.S. Border Patrol agents speak with each other in El Paso, Texas. Across the Rio Grande, in the background, is Cuidad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned U.S. immigration policy, arguing that many immigrants pose a threat to the nation and drain U.S. resources. But a study released Monday about health insurance challenges the president\u2019s portrayal.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2018.0309\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study in the journal Health Affairs<\/a>\u00a0found that immigrants covered by private health insurance and their employers contributed nearly $25 billion more in premiums in 2014 than was spent on their care. Those in the country without legal status contributed nearly $8 billion toward the surplus.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, U.S.-born enrollees spent nearly $25 billion more than they paid for in premiums.<\/p>\n<p>These findings surface as the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies \u2014 including a plan to tie migrants\u2019 efforts to get permission for permanent residency to their use of federal benefit programs \u2014 have come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier studies also found that immigrants contribute more to Medicare than they receive in benefits, but the authors of this study say it is the first to look at the effect in private insurance plans.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This articles comes from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/immigrants-health-premiums-far-exceed-what-plans-pay-for-their-care\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaiser Health News<\/a>,\u00a0is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation and not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Leah Zallman, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study, said her findings allude to the potentially negative consequences that tighter immigration policies could have on the health care industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think in today\u2019s era \u2026 there\u2019s so much concern about immigrants and immigration really sort of draining our resources in the U.S.,\u201d Zallman said. \u201cThis really points to the critical role that immigrants have in actually subsidizing and maintaining our current systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Researchers calculated the financial contributions and expenses of enrollees and their employers using two surveys created by the federal government. Plans sold on the federal health law\u2019s insurance exchanges were not included because they \u201cdiffer from other private insurance in important ways and are unavailable to undocumented people,\u201d the study authors noted.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone born outside of the United States was categorized as an immigrant. However, the surveys did not ask non-citizens with private coverage about their legal status. Researchers used national data on undocumented immigrants to estimate how many people in the study group illegally resided in the country.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, immigrants and their employers contributed $88.7 billion in private insurance premiums, but spent only $64 billion for care, according to the study\u2019s findings. Of that group, undocumented immigrants alone paid more than $17 billion to private insurers but used only $9.4 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Native-born consumers paid $616 billion in premiums and received nearly $641 billion in insurers\u2019 payments for care. They also consistently outspent immigrants across all age groups. Among enrollees 65 and older, the U.S.-born made a net contribution of nearly $10,000 more toward their care than those born overseas, according to the study.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers reported that, on average, individual immigrants paid $1,123 more for premiums in 2014 than they received in insurance-covered care. U.S. natives instead cost insurers $163 on average.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Leighton Ku, director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University who was not involved in the study, said several factors contribute to immigrants\u2019 low health care expenses. The group tends to be healthier and younger when they arrive in the United States. Cultural and language differences also hinder them from accessing care.<\/p>\n<p>The study noted that immigrants\u2019 health care expenditures increased the longer they remained in the country. But it added that since their premiums also increased at the same time, they continued to make a net contribution to their private health plans.<\/p>\n<p>The findings come about a week after the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/18_0921_USCIS_Proposed-Rule-Public-Charge.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposed redefining<\/a>\u00a0how it would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/5-things-to-know-about-trumps-new-public-charge-immigration-proposal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">determine \u201cpublic charge<\/a>,\u201d a term used to describe a person likely to become dependent on the government for assistance. The proposal would make it harder for immigrants to live and work permanently in the U.S. if they receive certain types of federal assistance, such as Medicaid, food stamps and housing subsidies.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has vowed to be tough on immigration standards. During his campaign, he berated U.S. health expenditures on immigrants, arguing that the U.S. spent $11 billion for care to people who were in the country without authorization, the study\u2019s authors note.<\/p>\n<p>But they point out that earlier research shows that immigrants have low rates of health care use and spending, compared with native residents. Their payments to private plans and Medicare in essence prop up care for patients who are U.S.-born, the authors say.<\/p>\n<p>A study Zallman\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4699990\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published earlier<\/a>\u00a0showed unauthorized immigrants contributed $35.1 billion more to Medicare from 2000 to 2011 than they used in services.<\/p>\n<p>Benedic Ippolito, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, cautioned using the study\u2019s findings to draw conclusions on a large scale about immigrants and their role in health insurance. An estimated 20 percent of immigrants \u2014 including nearly half of the undocumented population \u2014 are uninsured, according to the study. Ippolito said the cost of their uncompensated care affects whether immigrants\u2019 financial contributions actually lead to surpluses for health care overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would be careful about how much I extrapolate these results to a) other parts of the health insurance market and b) even further to what this means for immigration policy,\u201d Ippolito said. \u201cThis paper alone does not tell us everything we need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ku echoed the uncertainty. He said he is not certain how the Trump administration\u2019s latest actions will affect immigrants enrolled in private insurance. Having a private plan may suggest they are employed with a certain income stability. However, if enough immigrants leave the insurance market, he added, it may have the unintended consequence of making health plans more expensive for everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat does have the following implication that to the extent that we do things to suppress immigrants or make it harder for them to purchase insurance then in that case we may do harm to the citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both those living in the United States legally and those without legal status contribute more in premiums than the spend on health care, a study finds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,117],"class_list":["post-631419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-health-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}