A universal health care system? Unmet need for medical care among regular and irregular immigrants in Italy

Busetta, Annalisa, Cetorelli, Valeria ORCID: 0000-0002-7310-6557 and Wilson, Ben ORCID: 0000-0003-4274-617X (2017) A universal health care system? Unmet need for medical care among regular and irregular immigrants in Italy. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. ISSN 1557-1912

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Abstract

Italy has a universal health care system that covers, in principle, the whole resident population, irrespective of citizenship and legal status. This study calculates the prevalence of unmet need for medical care among Italian citizens, regular and irregular immigrants and estimates logistic regression models to assess whether differences by citizenship and legal status hold true once adjusting for potential confounders. The analysis is based on two Surveys on Income and Living Conditions of Italian households and households with foreigners. Controlling for various factors, the odds of experiencing unmet need for medical care are 27% higher for regular immigrants than for Italian citizens and 59% higher for irregular immigrants. The gaps by citizenship and legal status are even more striking among those with chronic illnesses. These results reveal the high vulnerability of immigrants in Italy and the need to develop more effective policies to achieve health care access for all residents.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://link.springer.com/journal/10903
Additional Information:	© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Divisions:	International Development Methodology Middle East Centre
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DG Italy H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2017 14:21
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2024 22:45
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/69876

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