Capacities of Health Systems in Climate Migrant Receiving Communities

This report examines how health care delivery systems in receiving communities meet the needs of climate migrants. The research team drew on insights from interviews with health care providers and county-level data from the Area Resources Health File in three case study sites in the US Gulf Coast: Houston, Texas, where migrants relocated from Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina in 2005; Orange and Osceola Counties surrounding Orlando, Florida, where migrants from Puerto Rico relocated after Hurricane Maria in 2017; and northern Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, where migrants from southern coastal regions relocated in response to ongoing sea level rise and environmental degradation. We examine how each community’s health care system interpreted the needs of climate migrants and how they shifted services in response to those needs over time.