[Immigration and the demand for private health insurance]

The wave of immigration in Spain in the last 10 years has had major consequences in the provision of key public services. In the present study, we examined the effect of this population shock on the demand for private health insurance.

Using data from the National Health Survey for 2001, 2003 and 2006, we estimated discrete choice models to analyze the demand for dual coverage (public and private insurance) and the demand for private coverage among civil servants.

The results suggest that both the percentage of immigrants and the increase in the population resulted in greater demand for private health insurance (social security sample), mainly in groups with a middle-to-high income and with children or with a greater choice of private healthcare provider (in the sample of civil servants). In both cases, private healthcare was sought to gain access to specialized and emergency services more rapidly. The marginal effect obtained by using the variable of the percentage of immigrants was much higher in the sample of civil servants (about 0.20) than in the social security sample (0.05).

Although immigrants tend to enjoy better health and use health services (with the exception of emergencies) less frequently than Spaniards, this collective has led to a significant increase in the demand for healthcare and, especially, private health insurance.