title: The effect of parental immigration authorization on health insurance coverage for migrant Latino children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine if immigration authorization among parents is associated with health insurance coverage for migrant Latino children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional household survey of 300 migrant families for which one child, aged <13 years, was randomly selected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most children lacked insurance (73%) and had unauthorized parents (77%). Having an authorized parent or parental stay of more than 5 years in the US were each positively associated with children's health insurance coverage [OR: 4.9; 95% CI: (2.7-8.7) and [OR = 6.7; 95% CI: (3.8-12.0), respectively]. The effect of parental authorization did not persist in multivariable logistic regression analysis; however, more than 5 years of parental stay in the US remained associated with children's insurance coverage [OR = 4.8; 95% CI (1.8-12.2)], regardless of parental authorization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increased parental familiarity with US health and/or social services agencies, rather than parental authorization status, is important to obtaining health insurance for migrant children. Efforts to insure eligible migrant children should focus on recently arrived families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445, USA. andrea_weathers@unc.ecu
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Weathers
authors.forename: Cynthia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Minkovitz
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diener-West
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Campo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors