title: Policy dilemmas in Latino health care and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
abstract: The changing Latino demographic in the United States presents a number of challenges to health care policy makers, clinicians, organizations, and other stakeholders. Studies have demonstrated that Latinos tend to have worse patterns of access to, and utilization of, health care than other ethnic and racial groups. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 may ameliorate some of these disparities. However, even with the ACA, it is expected that Latinos will continue to have problems accessing and using high-quality health care, especially in states that are not expanding Medicaid eligibility as provided by the ACA. We identify four current policy dilemmas relevant to Latinos' health and ACA implementation: (a) the need to extend coverage to the undocumented; (b) the growth of Latino populations in states with limited insurance expansion;
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1772; email: aortega@ucla.edu , avb@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Alexander N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Hector P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vargas Bustamante
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: Hispanic Americans; Medicaid; access to care; community health centers; quality of care