A February 2021 report by National Nurses United found that while Filipinos make up 4% of RNs in the United States, they accounted for a stunning 26.4% of the registered nurses who had died of COVID-19 and related complications. Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the United States and especially so many of the frontlines of healthcare? To answer that question, we need to look at the history of American colonization of The Philippines, United States immigration policies, and the establishment of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the US. 
Joining me to help us learn more about Filipino nurses is Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy, Professor of Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies and Comparative Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of the 2003 book, Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History, and the new book, Asian American Histories of the United States.
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Baby show arranged by Red Cross nurse, Phillipines [sic] Chapter, P.I. Philippines, 1922,” Courtesy of the Library of Congress, No known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:


When the Reporter Asks You Why There Are So Many Filipino Nurses in the U.S.: You want more than the count of their lives lost,” by Catherine Ceniza Choy, The Margins, May 17, 2021.

“Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the U.S.?” by Anne Brice, Berkeley News, May 28, 2019.

“Why are there so many Filipino Nurses in California? After Filling a Nursing Shortage in the 1960s, Immigrant Caregivers Have Changed the Practice and the Politics of Health Care” by Catherine Ceniza Choy, Zocalo, September 20, 2019

“Sins of Omission How Government Failures to Track Covid-19 Data Have Led to More Than 3,200 Health Care Worker Deaths and Jeopardize Public Health,” National Nurses United, Updated March 2021.

“COVID-19 takes heavy toll on Filipino health care workers,” PBS News Weekend, May 9, 2020.

“The History of Medicare,” National Academy of Social Insurance. 

“History, Philippines,” by Gregorio C. Borlaza, Britannica. 

“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,” History, Art, & Archives, United States House of Representatives.


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