Immigrants Subsidize U.S. Private Health Insurance

Immigrants paid $24.7 billion more in private health insurance premiums than insurers paid for their care in 2014, according to a study released Oct. 1.

The study by Harvard researchers, published in the journal Health Affairs, found that in 2014 legal and undocumented immigrants paid $88.7 billion in insurance premiums while their care totaled $64 billion. U.S. natives paid $616 billion in insurance premiums, while their care cost $640.7 billion, resulting in immigrants subsidizing U.S.-born enrollees, according to the study.

The findings add questions to the debate over whether immigrants are a burden on the health-care system. The Trump administration ...