Beyond Eligibility: Access to Federal Public Benefit Programs for Immigrant Families in the United States

Abstract

Federal benefit programs assist individuals and low-income families with basic expenses like food, housing, and health care. The eligibility rules associated with these programs impact access to health care and the health of immigrants, as well as natural-born citizens in the United States ( Salami, 2017 Salami A. Immigrant eligibility for health care programs in the United States. NCSL, Denver, CO2017http://www.ncsl.org/research/immigration/immigrant-eligibility-for-health-care-programs-in-the-united-states.aspx Google Scholar ). In 2016, about 44 million immigrants resided in the United States and accounted for 13.5% of the total U.S. population ( Gambino, 2017 Gambino C. Inside the American Community Survey: 2016 language data overhaul. U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC2017https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2017/09/inside_the_american.html Google Scholar ). California has the largest population of legal permanent residents (LPRs); of the 38 million people in California, 27% are immigrants, and an estimated 3.3 million are LPRs ( Ponce et al., 2018 Ponce N.A. Quach T. Bau I. Suh D. Shimkhada R. Yue D. Hirota S. Immigrants, US values, and the golden state [Health Affairs Blog]. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180817.59208/full/ Google Scholar ). The 2016 California Health Interview Survey estimated that 1.15 million LPR adults and 760,000 natural-born children with at least one LPR parent participated in a federal public benefit program ( Ponce et al., 2018 Ponce N.A. Quach T. Bau I. Suh D. Shimkhada R. Yue D. Hirota S. Immigrants, US values, and the golden state [Health Affairs Blog]. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180817.59208/full/ Google Scholar ). However, most enrollees for public benefits programs are U.S.-born citizens (Batalova & Greenberg, 2018), and in California, noncitizens living at the federal poverty level are less reliant on public programs than U.S.-born citizens ( Ponce et al., 2018 Ponce N.A. Quach T. Bau I. Suh D. Shimkhada R. Yue D. Hirota S. Immigrants, US values, and the golden state [Health Affairs Blog]. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180817.59208/full/ Google Scholar ). Genesis R. Bojorquez, Doctoral Student, University of San Diego, Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, San Diego, CA. Eileen K. Fry-Bowers, Associate Professor, University of San Diego, Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, San Diego, CA.