Is Immigration Good for Public Health?

New research conducted by Misters Grabowski, Gruber, and McGarry and funded by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined the impact of immigration to America and the effect on the health of native-born Americans. A large share of immigrants work in the healthcare sector including immigrant doctors, nurses, aides, home care and home health caregivers, support staff at health and long-term care facilities, and direct care workers. Could government public policy concerning immigration have, in turn, an effect of healthcare availability and well-being of native-born Americans?

The research, "Is Immigration Good for Health? The Effect of Immigration on Older Adult Mortality in the United States," measured the impact of increased immigration on mortality among elderly Americans. Their conclusions were stunning. They found that . . .

.admitting 1,000 new immigrants would lead to 142 new foreign healthcare workers, without evidence of crowd out of native health care workers.

and

a 25% increase in the steady state flow of immigrants to the US would result in 5,000 fewer deaths nationwide. We identify reduced use of nursing homes as a key mechanism driving this result.

To read the full research paper, click here.