Latino/a Family Health Care Utilization Across Destinations

Elizabeth Ackert , Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Stephanie Potochnick, University of Missouri, Columbia

This study examines the association between Latino/a destinations and health care utilization among Latino/a families. Despite a burgeoning literature on new immigrant destinations, few previous studies have examined health outcomes among Latinos/as across new versus established gateways. We integrate public-use data on Latino/a destinations, health care resources, and immigration enforcement with individual-level data on Latino/a family health care utilization in the restricted-access National Health Interview Survey. We characterize differences in health care resources and immigration enforcement across Latino/a destinations, explore how Latino/a family health care utilization varies across destinations, and then determine whether health care resources and immigration enforcement mediate or moderate the associations between destinations and health care utilization. Our initial results show that new destinations have lower health care supply, but are less likely to be classified as health professional shortage areas, have lower rates of uninsurance, and have less stringent immigration enforcement profiles than traditional destinations.

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 Presented in Session 4. Migration and Health/Well-being