title: Hispanic-Asian Immigrant Inequality in Perceived Medical Need and Access to Regular Physician Care.
abstract: In the face of continuing large immigrant streams, Hispanic and Asian immigrants' human and social capital inequalities will heighten U.S. race/ethnic health and health care disparities. Using data from the 2004 and 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this study assessed Hispanic-Asian immigrant disparity in access to health care, measured by perceived medical need and regular access to a physician. Logistic regression results indicated that Hispanics had lower perceived met medical need and were less likely to see a doctor regularly. These disparities were significantly attenuated by education and health insurance. Assimilation-related characteristics were significantly associated with a regular doctor visit and were not fully mediated by socioeconomic variables. Findings indicate the importance of education above and beyond insurance coverage for access to health care and suggest the potential for public health efforts to improve preventive care among immigrants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. stephaniehowe14@gmail.com.|Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. stephaniehowe14@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Howe Hasanali
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. ged@psu.edu.|Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. ged@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Gordon F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: De Jong
authors.affiliation: Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. drg112@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roempke Graefe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Asian immigrants; Health care access and utilization; Health care inequality; Hispanic immigrants; Perceived medical need