Understanding health-care access and utilization disparities among Latino children in the United States.
It is important to understand the source of health-care disparities between Latinos and other children in the United States. We examine parent-reported health-care access and utilization among Latino, White, and Black children (≤17 years old) in the United States in the 2006-2011 National Health Interview Survey. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we portion health-care disparities into two parts (1) those attributable to differences in the levels of sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., income) and (2) those attributable to differences in group-specific regression coefficients that measure the health-care 'return' Latino, White, and Black children receive on these characteristics. In the United States, Latino children are less likely than Whites to have a usual source of care, receive at least one preventive care visit, and visit a doctor, and are more likely to have delayed care. The return on sociodemographic characteristics explains 20-30% of the disparity between Latino and White children in the usual source of care, delayed care, and doctor visits and 40-50% of the disparity between Latinos and Blacks in emergency department use and preventive care. Much of the health-care disadvantage experienced by Latino children would persist if Latinos had the sociodemographic characteristics as Whites and Blacks.
Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Division of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Arizona Tucson, AZ, USA blangell@email.arizona.edu.
Brent A
BA
Langellier
Department of Health Services Administration, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, USA.
Jie
J
Chen
Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Arturo
A
Vargas-Bustamante
Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Moira
M
Inkelas
Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Alexander N
AN
Ortega
D000293:Adolescent; D044383:Black People; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014481:United States; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American
Access to care; Latinos; child health; health care; health disparities; race/ethnicity