Disability and Access to Health and Support Services Among California's Immigrant Populations

Publication Date: January 2000

Publisher: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

Author(s): A. E. Benjamin; Steven P. Wallace; Valentine M. Villa; Kathy McCarthy

Research Area: Health

Keywords: disabilities; immigration; California

Type: Report

Coverage: California

Abstract:

People with disabilities are less likely to have private health insurance and more likely to have governmental coverage than people with no disabilities. Paradoxically, disability rates are high among those participating in means-tested assistance programs, yet most people with severe disabilities do not receive benefits from an assistance program. While our knowledge about the sources and consequences of disability has grown markedly, what we know about immigrant health and disability has not kept pace. Given California’s large immigrant population—26% of the state population were born outside the United States—this knowledge gap needs to be addressed.