Health Insurance Coverage of the Foreign Born in the United States: Numbers and Trends

Immigrants in the United States are much less likely to have health insurance coverage than the U.S. born. In 2002, 13 percent of the native population lacked health insurance coverage, compared to 33 percent of the foreign born. Among immigrants, coverage rates were significantly lower for noncitizens: 43 percent, while the share of naturalized citizens without health insurance was much lower, at 18 percent.

The analysis suggests that the longer immigrants live in the United States, the more likely they are to obtain health insurance coverage. Some 46 percent of immigrants residing in the United States for less than 10 years were uninsured in 2002. The percentage of uninsured individuals dropped to 34 percent for immigrants living in the United States for 10 to 19 years, and decreased even further to 18 percent for immigrants with 20 or more years of U.S. residence.