Mexican Immigrants and ER's

From CivilRights.org

Fewer than 10% of recent Mexican immigrants -- whether they came in legally or not -- reported using an emergency room in 2000, according to the study, based on an analysis of the U.S. National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2000 by a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Recent immigrants were defined as people who had been in the United States for fewer than 10 years.

In contrast, 20% of U.S.-born whites and Mexican Americans used an emergency room during the same time period.

"The study breaks a lot of the myths.... There are assumptions that immigrants are breaking the economy by using emergency rooms," said Xochitl Castaneda, director of the California-Mexico Health Initiative, an arm of the California Policy Research Center based at the UC Office of the President.