One-Fourth of Hispanics Lack Healthcare

More than one-fourth of Hispanic adults in the United States lack a usual healthcare provider, a survey indicates.

A Pew Hispanic Center survey of Latino adults, conducted in conjunction with the RobertWood Johnson Foundation, says more than eight in 10 Hispanics report receiving health information from alternative sources, such as television and radio.

Hispanic adults have a lower prevalence of many chronic health conditions than the U.S. adult population as a whole, but they have a higher prevalence of diabetes than do non-Hispanic white adults, and they are also more likely to be overweight.

The survey of 4,013 Hispanic adults says 50 percent of Hispanics with no usual place for medical care are high school graduates, 30 percent were born in the United States and 45 percent have health insurance.

Forty-one percent say their reason for not having a regular healthcare provider is that they are seldom sick.

The bilingual telephone survey of a nationally representative sample conducted July 16 to Sept. 23 has a margin of error of plus/minus 1.83 percentage points.