IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jku/cdlwps/wp1808.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Health care utilization of refugees

Author

Abstract

European countries experienced significant inflows of migrants in the past decade, including many refugees coming from regions engaged in armed conflicts. While previous research on migrant health largely focused on economic migration, empirical evidence on the health of refugees is sparse. We use administrative data from Austria to differentiate between economic migrants and refugees and analyze their health care expenditures in comparison to natives. The results distinctly show different expenditure patterns. Unlike economic migrants, we find substantially higher expenditures for refugees, most pronounced in the first year upon arrival. The difference is not explained by specific diseases or individual refugee groups, indicating a, generally, inferior health status. Further, by using the quasi-random placement of refugees as a natural experiment, we show that characteristics of the local health care sector do not have a significant effect on expenditure levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Schober & Katrin Zocher, 2018. "Health care utilization of refugees," CDL Aging, Health, Labor working papers 2018-08, The Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  • Handle: RePEc:jku:cdlwps:wp1808
    Note: English
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cdecon.jku.at/wp-content/uploads/wp1808CD.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grönqvist, Hans & Johansson, Per & Niknami, Susan, 2012. "Income inequality and health: Lessons from a refugee residential assignment program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 617-629.
    2. Kalt, A. & Hossain, M. & Kiss, L. & Zimmerman, C., 2013. "Asylum seekers, violence and health: A systematic review of research in high-income host countries," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(3), pages 30-42.
    3. Giuntella, Osea, 2013. "Why Does the Health of Immigrants Deteriorate? Evidence from Birth Records," IZA Discussion Papers 7588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2006. "Unhealthy assimilation: Why do immigrants converge to American health status levels?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(2), pages 337-360, May.
    5. Deri, Catherine, 2005. "Social networks and health service utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1076-1107, November.
    6. Ku, L., 2009. "Health insurance coverage and medical expenditures of immigrants and native-born citizens in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(7), pages 1322-1328.
    7. McDonald, James Ted & Kennedy, Steven, 2004. "Insights into the 'healthy immigrant effect': health status and health service use of immigrants to Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 1613-1627, October.
    8. Angrist, Joshua D., 2014. "The perils of peer effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    9. Lindert, Jutta & Ehrenstein, Ondine S. von & Priebe, Stefan & Mielck, Andreas & Brähler, Elmar, 2009. "Depression and anxiety in labor migrants and refugees - A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 246-257, July.
    10. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    11. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Platt Boustan & Katherine Eriksson, 2014. "A Nation of Immigrants: Assimilation and Economic Outcomes in the Age of Mass Migration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 467-506.
    12. Barry R. Chiswick & Yew Liang Lee & Paul W. Miller, 2008. "Immigrant Selection Systems And Immigrant Health," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(4), pages 555-578, October.
    13. Giuntella, Osea, 2017. "Why does the health of Mexican immigrants deteriorate? New evidence from linked birth records," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-16.
    14. Devillanova, Carlo, 2008. "Social networks, information and health care utilization: Evidence from undocumented immigrants in Milan," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 265-286, March.
    15. Fernando Riosmena & Rebeca Wong & Alberto Palloni, 2013. "Migration Selection, Protection, and Acculturation in Health: A Binational Perspective on Older Adults," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 1039-1064, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barbieri, Paolo Nicola & Nguyen, Hieu M., 2021. "When in America, do as the Americans? The evolution of health behaviors and outcomes across immigrant cohorts," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    2. Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Paolini, 2019. "Decomposing Immigrant Differences in Physical and Mental Health: A 'Beyond the Mean' Analysis," DEM Working Papers 2019/4, Department of Economics and Management.
    3. Francisca M. Antman & Brian Duncan & Stephen J. Trejo, 2020. "Ethnic attrition, assimilation, and the measured health outcomes of Mexican Americans," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1499-1522, October.
    4. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.
    5. Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa, 2022. "Naturalization and Immigrants' Health," IZA Discussion Papers 15659, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Jatrana, Santosh & Pasupuleti, Samba Siva Rao & Richardson, Ken, 2014. "Nativity, duration of residence and chronic health conditions in Australia: Do trends converge towards the native-born population?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 53-63.
    7. Mathieu Ichou & Matthew Wallace, 2019. "The Healthy Immigrant Effect: The role of educational selectivity in the good health of migrants," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(4), pages 61-94.
    8. Cristina Bellés-Obrero & Nicolau Martin Bassols & Judit Vall Castello, 2021. "Safety at work and immigration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 167-221, January.
    9. Jonathan Wadsworth, 2013. "Mustn't Grumble: Immigration, Health and Health Service Use in the UK and Germany," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 55-82, March.
    10. Simon Jean-Baptiste Combes & Nathalie Simonnot & Fabienne Azzedine & Abdessamad Aznague & Pierre Chauvin, 2019. "Self-Perceived Health among Migrants Seen in Médecins du Monde Free Clinics in Europe: Impact of Length of Stay and Wealth of Country of Origin on Migrants’ Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Osea Giuntella & Luca Stella, 2017. "The Acceleration of Immigrant Unhealthy Assimilation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 511-518, April.
    12. Barbieri, Paolo Nicola, 2016. "The heterogeneity in immigrants unhealthy assimilation," MPRA Paper 71560, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Yazbeck M & Xu H & Azocar F & Ettner SL, 2020. "Spousal Peer Effects in Specialty Behavioral Health Services Use: Do Spillovers Vary by Gender, Subscriber Status and Sexual Orientation?," Discussion Papers Series 630, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    14. Ainoa Aparicio Fenoll, 2024. "Naturalization and immigrants' health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 310-332, February.
    15. Yuriy Pylypchuk & Julie Hudson, 2009. "Immigrants and the use of preventive care in the United States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(7), pages 783-806, July.
    16. Alfred Kechia Mukong, 2017. "Peer Networks and Tobacco Consumption in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 85(3), pages 341-367, September.
    17. Martinson, Melissa L. & Tienda, Marta & Teitler, Julien O., 2017. "Low birthweight among immigrants in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 168-176.
    18. Osea Giuntella & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2014. "Do Immigrants Bring Good Health?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 653, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    19. Bousmah, Marwân-al-Qays & Combes, Jean-Baptiste Simon & Abu-Zaineh, Mohammad, 2019. "Health differentials between citizens and immigrants in Europe: A heterogeneous convergence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 235-243.
    20. Teitler, Julien O. & Hutto, Nathan & Reichman, Nancy E., 2012. "Birthweight of children of immigrants by maternal duration of residence in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 459-468.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jku:cdlwps:wp1808. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: René Böheim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlinzat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.