Health Care Access and Utilization among Hispanic Sub-Groups in the United States

Elizabeth Durden, University of Texas at Austin

I use the 1993-1996 National Health Interview Survey to examine the effect of race/ethnicity and immigration status on the access to and utilization of health care among Hispanic subgroups. Hispanic sub-populations were less likely to have access to and less likely to use health care in comparison to Non-Hispanic whites even after adjusting for nativity, duration, age, sex, marital status, sociodemographic factors, socioeconomic indicators and health precursors. Mexican-Americans, Cubans and Central Americans were found to have less access to health care than Non-Hispanic whites, while Puerto Ricans were not significantly different. In the utilization of health care, Mexican-Americans and Central and South American Hispanics were found to utilize health care significantly less often than Non-Hispanic whites, while Cubans and Puerto Ricans were not significantly different. Once all additional risk factors are controlled for, there are also significant differences between U.S. born and foreign-born individuals in regard to access and utilization of medical care.