People with disabilities are less likely to have private health insurance and more likely to have governmental coverage than people with no disabilities. Paradoxically, disability rates are high among those participating in means-tested assistance programs, yet most people with severe disabilities do not receive benefits from an assistance program. While our knowledge about the sources and consequences of disability has grown markedly, what we know about immigrant health and disability has not kept pace. Given California’s large immigrant population—26% of the state population were born outside the United States—this knowledge gap needs to be addressed.

policy brief examines the likely effects of the sweeping 2009 cuts to California's safety-net programs for low-income and disabled seniors. Specifically, it examines reductions in programs that help disabled seniors remain safely at home, including the Supplemental Security Income, In-Home Supportive Services, Adult Day Health Care and other programs. Among the findings: researchers found that up to half a million seniors will have their incomes reduced by the cuts and tens of thousands will lose some or all of their in-home supportive services. The research is based on program data, published research and interviews with key informants in the health and government services sectors.

Among adults who report disabilities, immigrants’ use of medical and support services is roughly equivalent to that of nativeborn adults with similar needs and socioeconomic characteristics. Federal welfare reform in 1996 eliminated Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) eligibility for immigrants during their first five years in the country. This exclusion was based, in part, on a fear that health and welfare benefits acted as a “magnet” to foreigners in need of these services. States that choose to cover these recent immigrants must do so without federal matching funds. California continues to provide Medi-Cal eligibility to immigrants regardless of when they entered the United States, and thus California bears the entire cost of this program. These new findings on the levels of disability and use of disability services among California’s adult immigrants and their U.S.-born counterparts suggest that such “magnet” concerns are unfounded.