Going Home for Health Care? Older Women and the Lack of Coverage

Ana Canedo , University of Texas at Austin
Jacqueline Angel, University of Texas at Austin

What are the primary healthcare needs of Mexican return migrants from the United States and who bares their healthcare costs? The present study aims to examine the age-related health and healthcare utilization patterns of Mexican voluntary-return migrants. Using data from the 2014-2017 Survey of Migration at Mexico’s Northern Border (EMIF-Norte) we employ a K-means classic clustering algorithm to classify returnees across demographic and migration attributes. We then use multivariate regression analyses to examine competing age-related and health risk factors across voluntary-return migrant groups. Results indicate that older women returnees have a higher likelihood of developing health risk factors, particularly high cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes. In addition, they tend to seek healthcare in Mexico due to a lack of coverage in the U.S. Findings from this study offer a new insight on how healthcare needs vary across migrant’s specific characteristics, informing policies that seek to reduce the vulnerability of returnees.

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 Presented in Session 6. Health & Mortality & Aging