As has been the case in previous studies, the foreign-born population in LAFANS-1 was less likely to be insured.
At interview, 69% of undocumented immigrants, 37% of legal residents, 22% of naturalized citizens, and only 17% of US native born respondents were uninsured (Table 1). These differences could also be seen throughout the 2-year observation period.
Among respondents who were uninsured at the start of the period, 82% of both undocumented immigrants and naturalized citizens and 75% of legal residents remained uninsured for the entire 2 years, compared with 65% of native-born citizens.
Figure 1a shows the survival curve for immigrants and nonimmigrants not insured at the beginning of the EHC (i.e., proportion remaining uninsured at each month).
For ease of presentation, only the first health insurance period in the observation period (i.e., 86% of all insurance periods) is included in Figure 1.Undocumented immigrants and legal residents remained uninsured much longer than did native born and naturalized citizens.
By 29 months, 50% of the native-born respondents had obtained insurance, and by 43 months, more than 50% of the naturalized citizens were covered.
Legal residents and undocumented immigrants did not reach the 50% insured mark until 73 and 78 months, respectively.
Figure 1b presents the survival curve for immigrants and nonimmigrants who were insured at the beginning of observation. Figure 1 shows that, among immigrants of all statuses, keeping insurance was easier that initially obtaining it.
Among respondents who were insured at the start of the period, 93% of native-born participants remained insured throughout the 2-year period compared with 90% of naturalized citizens and undocumented immigrants and 89% of legal residents.
As seen in Figure 1b, the undocumented and legal residents had shorter insured periods, indicating that they had a harder time keeping their coverage.
More than 50% of the undocumented immigrants and legal residents had lost their coverage, by 69 months and 164 months, respectively.
However, more than 50% of native-born and of naturalized citizens remained insured for more than 200 months.