number of times over the past couple years to a variety of audiences. Typically each audience finds a particular point of interest—one audience may ask questions about the low-income uninsured, while another may be interested in the working uninsured—but in almost every situation, one of the first few questions is how either Latinos or immigrants (or both) affect the uninsured rate in our state. This question is not altogether unanticipated. The issue of immigration, legal and illegal, is particularly topical given the tremendous population growth over the past decade and the current political focus. An often cited statistic is that, on a percentage basis, North Carolina’s Hispanic population was the fastest growing in the country from 1990 to 2000. Congress’s consideration of immigration reform, and the subsequent public demonstrations, has focused national interest on the issue. Based on this widespread attention to immigrants in general, and how they contribute to the uninsured rate in particular, there is a cry for objective evidence. How much of the uninsurance problem can be attributed to Latinos and immigrants? The simple answer, of course, is that there is no simple answer. Like most topics worth considering, there is no definitive answer and data can be used to support conflicting conclusions on the issue. However, when one examines the constellation of statistics on this issue, there is only one defendable conclusion: although Latinos and non-citizens in general are more than three times as likely to be uninsured than non-Latinos and citizens, other factors are more important causes of the problem. Popular media coverage often blurs the definition between Latinos, immigrants, non-citizens, and illegal (or unauthorized) immigrants. Often, it appears, many people consider these groups identical. In North Carolina, however, 32% of non-citizens are not Latino, and 35% of Latinos were born in the United States. Non-citizens include both those who are in this country legally (i.e., with work, student, or other visas), as well as those in the country without documentation. Although much of the consternation on this issue relates directly to undocumented (illegal) immigrants, most of the data sources on the uninsured contain no information on an immigrant’s legal status. Thus, this commentary focuses on ethnicity (Latino or non-Latino) and citizenship (citizen or noncitizen). In addition, I limit my focus specifically to insurance coverage. A broader assessment of the costs and benefits of North Carolina’s immigrant population is well beyond the scope of this analysis.