Gretchen+Livingston,+Hispanics

Six-in-ten Hispanic adults living in the United States who are not citizens or legal permanent residents lack health insurance. The share of uninsured among this group (60%) is much higher than the share of uninsured among Latino adults who are legal permanent residents or citizens (28%), or among the adult population of the United States (17%). Hispanic adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents tend to be younger and healthier than the adult U.S. population and are less likely than other groups to have a regular health care provider. Just 57% say there is a place they usually go when they are sick or need advice about their health, compared with 76% of Latino adults who are citizens or legal permanent residents and 83% of the adult U.S. population. Four-in-ten (41%) non-citizen, non-legal permanent resident Hispanic adults state that their usual provider is a community clinic or health center. Some 15% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that they use private doctors, hospital outpatient facilities, or health maintenance organizations when they are sick or need advice about their health. An additional 6% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents report that they usually go to an emergency room when they are sick or need advice about their health. Some 37% of Latino adults who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents have no usual health care provider. More than one-fourth (28%) of the people in this group indicate that financial limitations prevent them from having a usual provider-17% report that their lack of insurance is the primary reason, while 12% cite high medical costs in general. However, a majority-56%-say they do not have a usual provider because they simply do not need one. Pew Hispanic Center analyses of Current Population Survey data indicate that approximately 98% of Hispanic immigrants who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents are undocumented. So, while the survey classification used in this report does not line up exactly with the Latino undocumented population, the two groups are nearly identical. Data from a number of sources are used for this study. The findings regarding Latinos are from a bilingual telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 4,013 Hispanic adults conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from July 16, 2007 through September 23, 2007. U.S. population statistics were obtained from the Current Population Survey, the American Community Survey, and the National Health Interview Survey.

Livingston, Gretchen, Susan Minushkin and D'Vera Cohn. 2008. "Hispanics and Health Care in the United States: Access, Information and Knowledge". Pew Research Center. [] National Health Interview Survey [] Passel, Jeffrey S. and D'Vera Cohn. 2009. "A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States". Pew Research Center. [] U.S. Census Bureau []
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