U.S. hazardous to health of Mexican entrants

U.S. Hazardous to Health of Mexican Entrants

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) October 16, 2005 — Coming to the United States can be bad for your health if you are a Mexican immigrant, according to a study released Thursday.

The joint Mexican-U.S. report found that most Mexican immigrants arrive in the United States in better health than the white American population, but their health deteriorates the longer they stay, due partly to lack of insurance and the change in lifestyle.

"It is unknown … if worsening health status is a result of years of difficult labor and poverty, changing health behaviors like diet and smoking, or insufficient preventive medical care," the report said.

Contrary to the widespread belief that immigrants place an undue burden on U.S. hospital emergency rooms, the study found that only 10 percent of recent immigrants from Mexico use emergency rooms, compared with 20 percent of U.S.-born whites.

The study, carried out by the University of California and the Mexican government's National Population Council, is aimed at improving the health of migrants living in the United States.

4 percent of U.S. population

Mexico is the largest contemporary source of immigration to the United States. Mexicans - many of them illegal - make up almost 4 percent of the total U.S. population.

Researchers found that 6.8 percent of recent adult Mexican immigrants assessed their own health as fair or poor, compared with 10.6 percent of U.S.-born whites, and just 2.6 percent have diabetes. After 15 years in the United States, 15 percent of Mexicans said their health was fair or poor and 7.7 percent had been diagnosed with diabetes.

More than half of the 10.2 million Mexican immigrants living in the United States do not have health insurance, and lack of documents due to an uncertain legal status means they often are ineligible for public health coverage.

In their homeland, most formally employed Mexicans have basic public health coverage, but millions in the countryside or in informal jobs are not covered.

Elena Zuniga, one of the authors of the report who works for Mexico's National Population Council, said that good health among immigrant workers had benefits for both Mexico and the United States.

"Without good health, Mexican immigrants cannot work in the physically demanding occupations where many are concentrated, such as agriculture and construction," she said.