Redressing the Limitations of the Affordable Care Act for Mexican Immigrants Through Bi-National Health Insurance: A Willingness to Pay Study in Los Angeles
Miguel Angel Gonza ´lez Block • Arturo Vargas Bustamante • Luz Ange ´lica de la Sierra • Aresha Martı ´nez Cardoso
Published online: 2 September 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract The 12.4 million Mexican migrants in the United States (US) face considerable barriers to access health care, with 45 % of them being uninsured. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not address lack of insurance for some immigrants, and the excluded groups are a large proportion of the Mexican–American community. To redress this, innovative forms of health insurance coverage have to be explored. This study analyses factors associated with willingness to pay for cross-border, bi-national health insurance (BHI) among Mexican immigrants in the US. Surveys were administered to 1,335 Mexican migrants in the Mexican Consulate of Los Angeles to assess their health status, healthcare utilization, and willingness to purchase BHI. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of willingness to pay for BHI.