Immigrants a growing share of U.S. uninsured

WASHINGTON – A new study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute shows immigrants make up a growing share of the U.S. uninsured population, accounting for about 55 percent of the increase in the uninsured from 1994 to 2006.
Native-born Americans still make up the majority of the uninsured, but immigrants’ share of the uninsured population rose from 18.8 percent to 26.6 percent in 12 years, the study shows.
The shift reflects a sharp increase in the uninsured immigrant population, from 6.9 million in 1994 to 12.3 million in 2006, an 80-percent increase, the study shows. By comparison, the uninsured native-born population grew by 15 percent, from 29.7 million to 34.1 million.
Comparable figures at this level of detail are not available for Rhode Island, but a state report earlier this year showed that as of 2005, 11.8 percent of Rhode Islanders were uninsured, up from 6.2 percent since 2000 but still lower than the 12.9-percent uninsured rate in 1995, before a major state Medicaid overhaul and expansion. •