Healthy migrants in Nicaragua

We use high-quality longitudinal data to analyze the existence of a health selectivity effect among Nicaraguans migrating to Costa Rica and to the U.S, using as comparison group the population of stayers. Our theoretical framework with two alternative destinations predicts that the healthiest will choose migration to the U.S. The results are even stronger for chronic diseases. Within-household fixed effect models find that healthier individuals have odds of migration that are 25% higher than those with respiratory, chronic or eruptive diseases. These findings suggest that the substantial public opinion opposition to a nation’s health care coverage for immigrants might be unfounded.