Evidences supporting the inclusion of immigrants in the universal healthcare coverage

Abstract

In 2012, the Spanish government enforced a healthcare exclusion policy against undocumented immigrants. The newly elected government has recently derogated this policy. To analyze how this decree could have affected population health, we looked at primary health patients who would have been excluded and compared with a matched sample of non-excluded patients. Potentially excluded patients had decreased odds of: depression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dyslipidaemia, heart failure and hypertension while diabetes mellitus rates were similar to non-excluded. Infectious diseases were more frequent in potentially excluded population (HIV, tuberculosis and syphilis). The exclusion of patients impedes the control of infectious diseases at a community level.