Project Details

Colombia allows all Venezuelan migrants with temporary residency the ability to enroll in its universal health coverage system. A recent legal mechanism put in place by the Colombian government, Estatuto Temporal deProtección para Migrantes Venezolanos (ETPMV), further extended the protections, allowing many migrants to obtain ten-year temporary residency permits, thereby facilitating access to formal employment and social services, including health insurance. 

A new study led by Connell School Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Integrated Science, Diana Bowser, together with University of Los Andes School of Government Associate Professor, Arturo Harker Roa, is one of the first studies to examinethe impact of this regulation policy (ETPMV) on migrant health insurance enrollment, access to health care services, and morbidity and mortality, with a focus on the impacts for Venezuelan migrant women and their children. The study team is conducting telephone surveys with migrant women in Colombia on their experiences enrolling in health insurance, accessing health care services, and health care costs for themselves and their children after the ETPMV, and collecting secondary data on migrant integration, health care utilization and costs, and maternal and child outcomes.

Building on their prior research, the multidisciplinary team—including Connell School researchers Priya Agarwal-Harding and Brielle Ruscitti— is using difference-in-difference methodology to examine the impacts of the ETPMV policy initiative and conducting qualitative interviews with migrant women, community partners, and government officials to uncover the health system enablers and barriers to effective health care access for migrants. The research team is currently collecting and analyzing the data. Findings will inform the integration and service provision for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia as well as countries grappling with providing services to similar migrant populations around the world.