Health care provision for illegal migrants: may health policy make a difference?
Illegal migrants in Europe are, generally, only entitled to emergency care and services for children and pregnant women. In 2002 legal changes in Spain made accessible medical cards and free medical care for illegal migrants in similar terms than the legal migrants or the Spanish population. We interviewed 380 migrants to assess whether there were differences on health services utilization by legal status. We did not find differences in the utilization of health services when ill between legal and illegal migrants. However, a significantly lower utilization of health services was associated with less education (RP = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2-0.9).
Torres-Cantero
A M
AM
Department of Health and Social Sciences, Medical School, Murcia University, Murcia, Spain. amtorres@um.es
Miguel
A G
AG
Gallardo
C
C
Ippolito
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000193:education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014504:Urban Health