Significant numbers of immigrants are uninsured.

• In 2003, between 43 to 52 percent of all non-citizens were uninsured, compared with only 15 percent of native-born citizens and 21 percent of naturalized citizens.^[source]
• Low-income non-citizens are the most likely to be uninsured: Among low-income adults, 70 percent of Latino non-citizens lacked insurance in 1999, compared to 34 percent of low-income Latino citizens and 28 percent of low-income white citizens.^[source]
• Children's insurance rates are affected by their own status as well as that of their parents: Among low-income Latinos, 74 percent of non-citizen children lacked health insurance in 1999, compared to 30 percent of citizen Latino children with non-citizen parents and 17 percent of citizen Latino children with citizen parents.^[source]
• Approximately 4.5 million legal immigrants who have arrived in the United States after the 1996 welfare law are effectively barred from receiving federally funded health insurance until they become citizens.^[source]

Immigrants have limited access to health care.

• In 1997, 37 percent of low-income non-citizens reported not having a usual source of care, compared to 19 percent of the low-income native-born.^[source]
• Non-citizens are more likely to be without a usual source of care and less likely to go to emergency rooms than citizens. On average, non-citizen children had fewer medical, dental, and mental health visits than citizen children.^[source]
• In 2000, over 25 percent of adult Mexican immigrants had not seen a doctor in the previous two years, about four times the rate for non-Hispanic whites.^[source]
• In 2000, 48 percent of Mexican immigrants ages 18-64 had no usual source of health care, and 58 percent had no health insurance. In contrast, 14 percent of U.S.-born, non-Hispanic whites had no usual source of care, and 14 percent were uninsured.^[source]
• In 2000, half of adult Mexican immigrants with no usual source of care and no health insurance had not seen a doctor in the previous two years.^[source]

Language presents a significant barrier to health care.

• Immigrants who lack English proficiency are less likely to be insured: Among low-income adults, 72 percent of non-citizen Latinos who spoke primarily Spanish lacked insurance, compared to 55 percent of non-citizen Latinos who spoke primarily English and 28 percent of white citizens.^[source]
• Federal law requires states, counties, and private health providers that receive federal funds to make reasonable efforts to provide language assistance to LEP individuals.^[source]
• Only eleven states have taken advantage of federal reimbursement to pay for language services for their Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), though some states are in the process of developing pilot projects.^[source]

States vary in their use of state funding to cover immigrants and their children.^[source]

• As of 2004, 22 states and the District of Columbia were using state funds to provide health coverage to some or all of the low-income documented immigrant children and pregnant women who lost federal coverage in the 1996 welfare law.
• About two-thirds of these states also cover seniors, people with disabilities, and the parents of immigrant children.
• Seven states also use federal SCHIP funds to cover prenatal care for all women, regardless of immigration status.