Health insurance coverage and health care utilization along the U.S.-Mexico Border: Evidence from the border epidemiologic study on aging

One-fifth of the U.S. adult population does not have health insurance coverage and it is projected that the ranks of the uninsured will continue to grow due to increasing health care costs and rising health insurance premiums (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor and Lee, 2005; Gilmer and Kronick, 2001; Rowland, 2004). The U.S. uninsured population is not only relatively large (almost 46 million people) but it is not homogenously distributed across states and communities. Incidentally, the four Southwestern border states, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, are also the only states where the percentage of the total state population without health insurance coverage exceeds 18%.