Objectives: I estimated region of origin differences in health insurance coverage in a national sample of children of immigrants.
Methods: Immigrant mothers from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) provided information. Chi-squares, ANOVAs, and multinomial logistic regressions examined the relationship between mother’s region of origin and child’s type of insurance (i.e., private, government, and uninsured), controlling for family, community, and state-level factors known to affect health insurance coverage.
Results: The majority of the immigrant children are insured, regardless of the mother’s region of origin. In comparison to children of immigrants from Europe or Canada, children of immigrants from Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean are less likely to have private insurance compared to government insurance; they are also more likely to be uninsured than have private insurance.
Conclusions: The lower likelihood of private insurance and the higher likelihood of uninsurance among children of immigrants from Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean position these children at risk for poor health outcomes later in life. Targeting children of immigrants from these regions is a useful intervention strategy to reduce disparities among immigrant children.
