Since 1993, the number of people in the United States without health insurance has risen dramatically by more than 11 percent, an additional 4.5 million people. Like everyone, those without health insurance still become sick and injured. Whereas insurance covers the costs of medical treatment for most U.S. residents, the cost of caring for the uninsured is passed on to local, state, and federal governments. That cost, of course, is then passed on to the taxpayer as higher taxes to support the hospitals and caregivers for the uninsured. In its new report, Without Coverage, CIS has found that immigration is at the heart of the recent growth in the uninsured population.
Immigrants are disproportionately part of the uninsured population.
Although immigrant households contain 13.1 percent of the nation s total population, they contain 26.1 percent of the uninsured. The most obvious reason for concern, said study author Steve Camarota, is that by increasing the size of the uninsured population, immigration makes it more difficult to help the uninsured already here.