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  • Title: Understanding observed and unobserved health care access and utilization disparities among US Latino adults.
    Author: Vargas Bustamante A, Fang H, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN.
    Journal: Med Care Res Rev; 2009 Oct; 66(5):561-77. PubMed ID: 19556553.
    Abstract:
    This study hypothesizes that differences in health care access and utilization exist across Latino adults (>18 years), with U.S. Latino adults of Mexican ancestry demonstrating the worst patterns of access and utilization. The analyses use the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 1999 to 2007 (N = 33,908). The authors first estimate the disparities in health care access and utilization among different categories of Latinos. They also implement Blinder-Oaxaca techniques to decompose disparities into observed and unobserved components, comparing Latinos of Mexican ancestry with non-Mexican Latinos. Latinos of Mexican ancestry consistently demonstrate lower health care access and utilization patterns than non-Mexican Latinos. Health insurance and region of residence were the most important factors that explained observable differences. In contrast, language and citizenship status were relatively unimportant. Although a significant share of these disparities may be explained by observed characteristics, disparities because of unobserved heterogeneity among the different Latino cohorts are also considerable.
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