More than one in four Hispanic adults in the United States lack a usual healthcare provider, and a similar proportion report obtaining no healthcare information from medical professionals in the past year, according to a report released Aug. 13 by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). At the same time, the report finds that more than eight in 10 receive health information from alternative sources, such as television and radio. This includes most of those who get no information from physicians or other medical professionals.
The report, based on a nationally representative bilingual survey of 4,013 Hispanic adults, examines Hispanics’ perception of healthcare access and information issues, and also examines Hispanics’ knowledge of diabetes--a serious chronic disease that is more prevalent among Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites. Unlike previous research, this survey examines how different subgroups within the U.S. Hispanic population access health services and information.
Among the survey’s key findings, a significant share of Hispanics with no usual place to go for medical care are high school graduates (50 percent), were born in the United States (30 percent), and have health insurance (45 percent). Access the report.
