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Div. of Media Relations
1600 Clifton Road
MS D-14
Atlanta, GA 30333
(404) 639-3286
Fax (404) 639-7394 |
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Access to Health Care and Prevention Services Among Hispanics and Non-Hispanics
Key Study Findings
- Hispanics are 14.4 percent less likely than non-Hispanic whites to seek and receive health care coverage, which may contribute to their
poorer health status and higher rates of serious disability and death. These differences remained significant even after adjusting for
respondents’ socioeconomic factors and self-rated health status.
- Hispanic respondents were more likely than non-Hispanic respondents to report that they needed medical care during the preceding 12 months
but could not obtain it (6.5 percent vs 5 percent).
- Hispanic adults were significantly less likely than non-Hispanic adults to have received cancer screenings, blood cholesterol screening, or
recommended immunizations.
- Generally Hispanics have less knowledge about cancer and a more fatalistic attitude toward cancer than non-Hispanics.
- The lower prevalence of health care access among Hispanics can be explained, in part, by the obstacles that Hispanics face in accessing
health care services in the United States such as cultural differences between them and their health care provider, language barriers, and the
administrative complexity of health plans.
Strategies to Reduce Barriers to Healthcare and Preventive Services
- Using culturally appropriate programs to advise Hispanics about the importance of screening.
- Adapting intervention programs proven to be effective with other populations.
- Targeting specific barriers to care such as poverty and health care professionals’ lack of knowledge about how best to encourage Hispanics
to use the preventive services that are available.
Background
- We examined differences in access to health care and preventive services between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, using data from the Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2001–2002. BRFSS is a state-based, random-digit–dialed telephone survey of the U.S. civilian,
non-institutionalized population aged ≥18 years. All 50 states and the District of Columbia participated in the surveys.
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