Health insurance: Lack of access by international migrants in Chile

Abstract

Background: According to WHO, the universal health access and coverage implies the universal access to health insurance. Chile has reached high levels of coverage in this subject. Nevertheless, the increasing arrival of immigrant groups has shown high levels of uninsurance among them. Through the last few years, there has been an important improvement in the access to health systems for groups that proved lack of resources, regardless of their migratory status. Consecuently, the access to health insurance of migrants is an interest subject of study. Objetive: To describe access to healthcare by international migrants in Chile. Methods: This document presents a descriptive analysis of the data based on CASEN 2017, identifying which groups among immigrants are specially affected with this problems of access to the health systems. Results: We find that 15,8% of immigrant population is not covered by a health insurance, fact that affects at least 10% of immigrants groups from different socioeconomic or demographic characteristics. However, this lack of coverage is somehow concentrated among those who have been less than a year in the country, affecting 40% of them. Conclusion: This results can be explained by different factors, such as lack of information, fear of being detected if having irregular migratory status, etc. and represent a challenge for the world of public policy making.