One Surprising Health Disparity Among Latino Immigrants

Most Latin American (Latino) immigrants to the United States participate in the dominant health care system. [...] Oftentimes, while utilizing this health care system, they continue to use their own culturally appropriate health care practices [...] In curanderismo, santería, and espiritismo, the practitioners assess the patient and, depending on diagnosis, prepares a healing remedy or a variety of healing remedies. A remedy is any combination of medicinal herbs, religious amulets, and/or other products used for the prevention, treatment, or palliation of folk and somatic illnesses. It is usually administered by the practitioner and may involve several sessions.

The idea of scientific authority has played an impactful role throughout industrialized society. As the production of knowledge through scientific research is constantly developing, new discoveries have a major influence in policies and practices that influence both social and scientific structures. In a seminar held by Dr. Hayes Bautista, a professor for Chicano Studies Community Medicine 106, he discussed health within the Latino population and his research on The Latino Epidemiological Paradox in terms of science, theory, and data. His research not only questions scientific research and health models, but pose questions that challenge systems surrounding healthcare.

In chapter thirteen, Hispanic/Latino health issues, Thomas A. LaVeist examine the health status of the Hispanic/Latino population. The Hispanic and Latino group is the largest nonwhite racial and ethnic group in the U.S. The Hispanics and Latinos have overall good health but can have some trouble when it comes to accessing good quality health care. A lot of Hispanics and Latinos are uninsured. With being uninsured, it’s hard to get the proper health care that is needed.

In my opinion, in order to understand how socioeconomic status of Hispanics affects the quality of health care, more research still needs to be conducted. This research should be a collaboration between Hispanic communities and researchers, which would build trust and potentially increase sample sizes. Future studies should also take into consideration the cultural variety of Hispanic population. For example, current federal standards require federal agencies use Hispanic or Latino term. Hispanics are identified by Spanish surname, Spanish origin, Spanish language and birthplace in a Latin American country.

When Hispanic moved to the United Staes, researchers have found that their health behaviors

For example, although cervical cancer is preventable when detected at an early stage, it has had a tremendous impact on the Latino community. With a population of fifty-two million, Latinos are known as the fastest and leading minority group in the U.S. (Monroy, 2017). Cervical Cancer not only accounts for the second highest death rate among Latinos, but Latinos are twice more likely to die from cervical cancer than white Non-Hispanic women (Monroy, 2017). Several Social Determinants of Health have been linked to cause this tremendous disparity. Latina women tend to have limited access to updated health care information, limited to no health care coverage, and low socioeconomic status that all ultimately affects their access to appropriate screening and preventative services (Monroy, 2017).

Health Care in the US is arguably available to all who seek it but not everybody has had the same experience and treatment when walking through the doors of a healthcare facility. In many cases, people are discriminated against due to their gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income and are often provided with minimal service. Differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care is majorly affected through these disparities. Income is a major factor and can cause groups of people to experience higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality relative to another group.

Immigrants face many barriers when it comes to gaining proper access to health care. Immigrants have the highest rate in the nation to not receive health insurance for the year. Not receiving health insurance is mainly due to the high cost of health care. Obtaining the proper health insurance is important for any human being because as humans we have to pay to be healthy. Immigrants come from their countries to seek better opportunities such as access to health care and health insurance.

Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders Across Latino Subgroups in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 97(1), 68-75. doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.087205 González, H. M., Tarraf, W., West, B. T., Croghan, T. W., Bowen, M. E., Cao, Z., & Alegría, M. (2009). Antidepressant use in a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling US Latinos with and without depressive and anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 26(7), 674-681. doi:10.1002/da.20561 Potochnick, S. R., & Perreira, K. M. (2010).

Approximately one out of every four children in the United States, live with at least one immigrant parents. The majority of them, about 86 percent, are U.S. citizen by birth; another 2 percent have gained citizenship status through the naturalization process. The remaining 12 percent children in immigrant families, who represent approximately 3 percent of all child population, are foreign-born and noncitizen. Although citizen children living in immigrant families are eligible for public health insurance coverage in a manner similar to the U.S.-born children of native parents, the disparities in health insurance coverage between children of immigrants and children of natives remain substantial. For example, in 2008, about 12 percent of low-income

During my two interviews my with my two people of the Hispanic culture I came to find they were both had a good level of health literacy from a quick glance. It’s interesting I came to this conclusion fast after asking them each their questions, because I barely know these two on a personal level. Raul I met last year at comicpalooza, where we bonded over love over television and movies and came in contact since, mostly having conversations about show/movies; but never had conversations on anything like this level. Francis I met over swim class this fall at UH recreation center, so I came to the conclusion to pick two people I didn’t really know to ask these questions for this paper.

46.8 million Americans were reported as uninsured in 2013, which equivocates to one sixth of the population. Those without insurance have revealed that they risk “more problems getting care, are diagnosed at later disease stages, and get less therapeutic care” (National Health Care Disparities Report) and those insured risk losing their insurance. Inadequately covered citizens are often working-class individuals who simply cannot receive insurance due to uncontrollable inconveniences and therefore jeopardize having medical coverage. In these instances, Americans have a chance of being diagnosed with diseases that they had no opportunity to prevent or could not diagnose them at an early stage of the illness. Patients have suffered unnecessarily due to lack of health care, and “18,000 Americans die every year because they don't have health insurance” (PNHP).

According to the CDC Hispanics of Mexican origin make up approximately 17 percent of the population in the United States. They are the one of the largest cultural populations in U.S. has risen dramatically over last four decades. There are a variety of reason that lead to health disparities for the Hispanic community these reasons then lead to the individuals not obtaining healthcare. First, it was reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012 that 29.1 percent of the Hispanic do not have health insurance. This usually prevents the majority of Hispanic people from receiving health care.

Hispanics had inferior access to care than non-Hispanic Whites for 5 of 6 core measures. Also, Poor people had inferior access to care than high-income people for all 6 core measures (Stone,

For example, while the number of Hispanics in America is increasing, they are more likely to face these struggles. Unfortunately, it seems that there is a debate on whether healthcare is a luxury or a human right. If they are struggling to make money, leading them to live in poverty can affect their health. It is part of our job as healthcare providers to educate ourselves on areas such as this, to be able to treat all people