Immigrant health care access and the affordable care act

Abstract

In spite of major coverage expansions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a large proportion of immigrants will continue to remain outside the scope of coverage. Because various provisions of the ACA seek to enhance access, advancing knowledge about immigrant access to health care is necessary. The authors apply the well-known Andersen model on health care access to two measures-one focusing on perceptions of unmet health care needs and the other on physician visits during the last year. Using data from the New Jersey Family Health Survey, the authors find that prior to implementation of the ACA coverage expansions, immigrants in New Jersey reported lower levels of unmet health care needs despite poorer self-rated health compared with U.S.-born residents. The article concludes with a discussion of the use of Andersen model for studying immigrant health care access and the broader implications of the findings.