Immigration policy is in the spotlight in Washington, D.C., today, and a new study in the June issue of Health Affairs shows the pivotal role immigrants play within Medicare.
Between 2002 and 2009, noncitizen immigrants contributed a surplus of $115.2 billion toward Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund, better known as Part A, while U.S.-born citizens generated a net deficit of $28.1 billion, according to the study.
Medicare's HI trust fund is heavily funded by payroll taxes. The study's five researchers — who are primary care physicians at Harvard Medical School in Boston and/or Hunter College School of Public Health in New York City — found that most immigrants are of working age and have jobs, which leads to high figures of payroll taxes. However, most immigrants are young or are not yet eligible for Medicare, meaning most immigrants pay into Medicare but do not necessarily utilize its benefits, the authors wrote.
"For years I have seen my immigrant patients be blamed for driving up healthcare costs," said lead author Leah Zallman, MD, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and internal medicine physician at Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance, in a news release. "And yet few acknowledge their contributions. Our study demonstrates that in one large sector of the U.S. healthcare economy, immigrants actually subsidize the care of native-born Americans."
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, a professor at Hunter College School of Public Health and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, said the study could both help federal immigration reform and educate hospitals on where Medicare's finances are.
"The numbers completely contradict the widely held misperception that immigrants are a drain on the health system," she said in a news release. "Reducing immigration would worsen Medicare's financial woes."
Between 2002 and 2009, noncitizen immigrants contributed a surplus of $115.2 billion toward Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund, better known as Part A, while U.S.-born citizens generated a net deficit of $28.1 billion, according to the study. Medicare's HI trust fund is heavily funded by payroll taxes. The study's five researchers — who are primary care physicians at Harvard Medical School in Boston and/or Hunter College School of Public Health in New York City — found that most immigrants are of working age and have jobs, which leads to high figures of payroll taxes. However, most immigrants are young or are not yet eligible for Medicare, meaning most immigrants pay into Medicare but do not necessarily utilize its benefits, the authors wrote.
"For years I have seen my immigrant patients be blamed for driving up healthcare costs," said lead author Leah Zallman, MD, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and internal medicine physician at Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance, in a news release. "And yet few acknowledge their contributions. Our study demonstrates that in one large sector of the U.S. healthcare economy, immigrants actually subsidize the care of native-born Americans."
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, a professor at Hunter College School of Public Health and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, said the study could both help federal immigration reform and educate hospitals on where Medicare's finances are.
"The numbers completely contradict the widely held misperception that immigrants are a drain on the health system," she said in a news release. "Reducing immigration would worsen Medicare's financial woes."
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