Special Issue of Medical Journal Explores Latino Health and Health Care

New Facts Uncovered to Advance Health Care Systems and Policy for U.S. Latinos

The Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, a consortium of researchers from major research institutions around the country, has produced a special supplement of the Journal of General Internal Medicine examining Latinos and health care, shedding light on important issues that have been left out of the health care reform debate.

This issue, Confronting Health Inequities in Latino Health Care, comprises nine studies examining hypertension, diabetes, health insurance coverage, discrimination, quality of care, spirituality, preventive care, and other topics on Latino health and health care.

Among the key findings:

Two thirds of Mexican Americans in the United States do not have a “patient-centered medical home.” That means they are less likely to receive regular health care that meets basic standards for adequacy, either preventive or when they get sick, with a resulting reliance on emergency rooms or other high-cost health care to address basic health care needs.

• U.S. Latinos with health insurance are 1.5 times more likely to report having excellent/good health care than their uninsured counterparts. Meanwhile, 60 percent of Latinos who are not U.S. citizens or are undocumented do not have health insurance.
• Nearly 70 percent of Latinos think that spiritual healing is very important in maintaining health and well being.
• U.S.-born Latinos report higher rates of discrimination and lower quality of care than foreign-born Latinos.

"Our research brings to light many quality of care issues for Latinos navigating today’s health care system,” said guest editor William Vega, Ph.D., co-director of the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare at UCLA.

Read the news release.

Access the special supplement.