Some politicians and pundits have made the case that immigrant healthcare costs drive up the cost of an average health insurance policy. It's important to consider the validity of these claims, especially as they relate to healthcare legislation.

First of all, it is a proven fact that legal immigration is not a major cause of rising healthcare costs, as healthcare costs are compensated. Few politicians make the case that legal immigration is a serious problem in this respect. Immigration reform activists often note the importance of differentiating between legal immigrant healthcare and the costs created by illegal immigration. The main difference is, of course, that illegal immigrants can receive free or low-cost healthcare without being required to back the cost of that care. This drives the total cost of healthcare in the United States higher, and as healthcare bills climb, insurance necessarily becomes more expensive.

The extent of that increase is a matter of debate. Uncompensated healthcare costs about $2 billion per year, according to an article in the New York Times, and that amount is certainly enough to cause some small increase in the average cost of a health insurance policy. Non-citizens are also more likely to be uninsured, while naturalized citizens are approximately as likely to be insured as native-born citizens. However, the number of uninsured citizens is vastly greater than the number of uninsured non-citizens. Furthermore, hospitals in cities bordering Mexico take on a disproportionate amount of the cost of uncompensated healthcare claims, which makes it difficult to make the case that hospitals in non-border states have higher expenses due to illegal immigration. Finally, it's important to note that non-citizens are less likely to use healthcare services than citizens, perhaps due to a fear of being caught and deported.

It's difficult to determine the exact relationship between illegal immigrant healthcare and health insurance costs across the board. It's probably fair to say that the impact of illegal immigration on health insurance is fairly minor, or even negligible depending on the figures used in estimates. The main driving factors behind increases in United States health insurance rates are extremely complex, but illegal immigration is certainly not a major component of the rise in insurance costs from the past decade or so. However, it would be fair to say that uninsured persons as a whole drive up both the cost of healthcare and the cost of the average health insurance policy. Staying uninsured can be dangerous for individuals, and given the enormous number of Americans who are uninsured, it's a definite draw on resources and a significant factor in the rising cost of health insurance premiums.