6533b7d5fe1ef96bd12648c2
RESEARCH PRODUCT
A Universal Health Care System? Unmet Need for Medical Care Among Regular and Irregular Immigrants in Italy
Valeria CetorelliAnnalisa BusettaBen WilsonBen Wilsonsubject
SociologiEpidemiologyHealth StatusImmigration Legal status VulnerabilityUnmet need Health care access Immigrants Legal status Italy Health Services AccessibilityState MedicineUnmet need 0302 clinical medicineSociologyHealth care030212 general & internal medicineSociologyCitizenshiphealth care economics and organizationsmedia_commoneducation.field_of_studyUndocumented ImmigrantsAge FactorsPublic Health Global Health Social Medicine and EpidemiologyItalyLegal status0305 other medical scienceUnmet needmedicine.medical_specialtymedia_common.quotation_subject Immigrants PopulationEmigrants and Immigrants Italy HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. CriminologyOdds03 medical and health sciencesSex FactorsImmigrantsmedicineHumanseducationPovertyDG Italy030505 public healthPovertybusiness.industryPublic healthPublic Health Environmental and Occupational HealthSettore SECS-S/04 - DemografiaHealth care access JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migrationFolkhälsovetenskap global hälsa socialmedicin och epidemiologiSocioeconomic FactorsChronic DiseaseRA Public aspects of medicineHealth care accessSocial CapitalbusinessDemographydescription
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.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-03-16 |