Abstract
This paper examines the puzzling divergence in healthcare entitlements for undocumented migrants in Spain and Denmark. Despite being a wealthy social democratic welfare state, Denmark restricts undocumented migrants to emergency-only care. Spain, a Mediterranean welfare state with fewer resources and a larger undocumented population, extends universal access to healthcare. This paper evaluates six theoretical explanations from the social policy scholarship to explore why Spain has adopted more generous healthcare entitlements for undocumented migrants than Denmark. The findings suggest that three mechanisms play the most significant role in explaining these differences: party configuration, elite framing, and the strength of interest group mobilization. By examining a population that exists outside traditional notions of social citizenship, this study shows that the reach of social protection in Spain and Denmark is shaped by active political contestation over the deservingness of undocumented migrants.
DOI
10.5642/urceu.JHJZ9479
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Jeong, Jimin
(2026)
"Explaining Divergent Healthcare Entitlements for Undocumented Migrants: A Comparative Analysis of Spain and Denmark,"
Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union:
Vol. 2026, Article 6.
DOI: 10.5642/urceu.JHJZ9479
Available at:
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/urceu/vol2026/iss1/6