This paper examines the contribution of immigration to the increase in the number of uninsured Americans between 1994 and 1998. The study found that non-citizens comprised 20 percent of the total uninsured in the U.S. Recent immigrants and their children who lacked health coverage (2.3 million) constitute only 5 percent of the 44 million uninsured. The number of new immigrants entering the U.S. between 1994 and 1998 actually fell, resulting in a decrease of 100,000 in the number of recent immigrants who are uninsured. Thus while recent immigrants have high rates of being uninsured (46 percent), they are not significant reason for the growth in the number of uninsured. Native citizens contributed most of the growth in the number of uninsured, 2.7 million of the 4.2 million increase (or 64 percent) in the number of uninsured between 1994 and 1998. (Published by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; 2001 February.)
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