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Article Date: 08 Sep 2006 - 14:00pm (PDT)
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Writing in the September issue of Pediatrics, Dr.
Flores, one of the country's foremost experts on
multicultural health care issues, sought to identify the
risk factors for and consequences of being uninsured in
Latino children. Dr. Flores is professor of pediatrics,
epidemiology and health policy at the Medical College
and director of the Center for Advancement of
Underserved Children at the Medical College and
Children's Hospital.
Latinos are the most uninsured racial/ethnic group of
children in the United States, with 22 percent
(approximately 3 million) of Latino children less than
18 years old having no health insurance coverage in
2005. This compares with uninsured rates of 7.4% among
non-Latino white children, 14.5% among African-Americans
and 12.4% among Asians/Pacific Islanders.
Previous research has shown that certain factors that
have a high prevalence among Latino children and their
families also are associated with greater risks of
lacking health insurance.
"It was unclear, however, which specific factors are
significantly associated with Latino children's lack of
insurance. Our study is the first to comprehensively and
simultaneously look at a variety of factors, including
immigration status, family income, child age, the number
of siblings, parental employment status, duration of
parental residence in the US, parental educational
attainment and marital status," Dr. Flores said.
After interviewing some 900 Latino families drawn from
the greater Boston metropolitan area, Dr. Flores and his
team found that after adjustment, parental
non-citizenship, having two parents work, low family
income, and older child age are associated with being an
uninsured child, but Latino ethnicity is not. The higher
prevalence of other risk factors appears to account for
Latino children's high risk of being uninsured.
Uninsured Latino children are significantly more likely
than insured Latino children to have no regular
physician, and to not get needed medical care due to
expense, lack of health insurance, difficulty making
appointments, and cultural barriers.
"These findings indicate specific high-risk populations
that might benefit most from targeted Medicaid and SCHIP
(State Children's Health Insurance Program) outreach and
enrollment efforts," Dr. Flores says.
###
The Census Bureau figures released on August 29, 2006,
show that, contrary to recent trends, the number and
percent of uninsured children increased in 2005. Since
reaching an historic low in 2000, the number of children
living in poverty in the United States has grown by 11.3
percent to approach 13 million, even after a 145,000
child improvement in 2005. Children in poverty were more
likely to be uninsured than other children. Since 2000,
more than 600,000 Latino children have fallen into
poverty.
Contact: Toranj Marphetia
Medical
College of Wisconsin
