A new Commonwealth Fund report by researchers with the Guttmacher Institute finds that immigrant women — including those lawfully present and those undocumented — are less likely to have health insurance coverage and less likely to receive sexual and reproductive health services than U.S.-born women are.
Authors Kinsey Hasstedt, Sheila Desai, and Zohra Ansari-Thomas say that by expanding eligibility for coverage and shoring up the nation's health care safety net — which seven of 10 immigrant women rely on for their usual source of care — policymakers can help ensure all women, regardless of immigration status, have access to the range of health services they need.