2022 International Conference on Aging in the Americas

Abstract

Accessing high-quality healthcare can be difficult for immigrants living in the United States, however, for older undocumented immigrants this difficulty is compounded by a combination of legal, cultural, language and systemic barriers that have widened the existing disparities of healthcare access for this population. Approximately 10 percent of the undocumented population is older than age 55 now. This population, however, is rapidly aging. As the number of older undocumented immigrants in the United States continues to grow, new challenges are emerging, and the expansion of healthcare coverage across the country has not included undocumented immigrants. Across the board undocumented immigrants have disproportionately higher health risks. Our study found that twice as many undocumented immigrants ages 65 and older reported being in “fair or poor” health than U.S.-born citizens, and only 29.3 percent said they were in “very good” or “excellent” health, compared to 54.2 percent of citizens. In 2021, California created the first ever expansion of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to undocumented Californian’s ages 50 and older, with plans of expanding to all undocumented immigrants in California by 2024. This expansion is seen by many as a necessary step for a state that is home to more than a quarter of all undocumented immigrants. Expanding Medicare coverage for all older adults at the federal level could solve many of the difficulties that immigrants face in finding healthcare coverage. Similarly, immigration reforms to naturalize undocumented immigrants could have positive spillover effect providing eligibility to Medicare and Medicaid to most immigrants.

Presenters

Arturo Vargas-Bustamante
Professor of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health / Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA, United States