Many Latinos spend no money on healthcare

LOS ANGELES, July 27 (UPI) -- Most Latinos living in the United States -- particularly those born outside the country -- do not spend money for healthcare, researchers say.

Arturo Vargas Bustamante of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health and Jie Chen of City University of New York examined health-expenditure disparities among Latinos based on their time of residence in the United States and their citizenship/nativity status.

The study, published in the journal Health Services Research, found Latinos, including both the native-born and foreign-born populations, were 68 percent more likely than whites to have no healthcare spending at all and were 6 percent more likely than whites to pay out-of-pocket if they did have medical bills.

The study also found Latino health expenditures were, on average, 57 percent of white expenditures. However, over time, the disparities between foreign-born naturalized Latinos and whites narrowed or disappeared, but disparities between foreign-born, non-citizen Latinos and whites remained constant or declined only slightly.

"Our study shows that differences are largely explained by related factors with this population, such as a relatively young age, low income, fewer years of schooling, good health status and lower health care access and utilization," Bustamante says in a statement.