Quarter of U.S. Hispanics lack access to a doctor

WASHINGTON — More than one-fourth of Hispanic adults in the United States don't have a regular doctor, according to a study to be released Wednesday.

It also found that 28 percent of Latinos have received no medical information from a physician in the past year, a statistic that could have dire consequences for those with chronic illnesses, who would benefit from early detection and constant monitoring.

"A significant share of Hispanics get no information from the medical community," said Susan Minushkin, deputy director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research organization in Washington that released the report with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

However, most Latinos — about 83 percent — get health information from alternative sources, such as television, radio, print media and the Internet, including Spanish-language outlets, the study found.

The survey also found that foreign-born, less-assimilated Hispanics without health insurance are more likely to lack a regular doctor.

Twenty-two percent of U.S.-born Latinos do not have a regular doctor, compared to 31 percent of legal permanent residents. In addition, 43 percent of Latinos who are likely in the country illegally lack a regular health care provider, the study said.

But the survey also found that half of those without a regular physician are at least high school graduates and 45 percent have health insurance.

"Even though insurance helps, it does not solve the problem," said William Vega, a professor of family medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

About 41 percent of Latinos said they did not have a regular doctor because they are seldom sick and don't need one, the report said. Others cited a lack of health insurance, the high cost of care, and trouble navigating the U.S. health care system.

Vega said that the lack of health care among a large segment of Latinos — the nation's fastest growing minority — has major implications for the overall health care system.

"For individuals who have chronic illnesses, this is a very serious problem," he said.

Hispanic adults have lower rates of many chronic health conditions than the U.S. population as a whole. However, they have a higher prevalence of diabetes than whites.

Latinos are also more likely to be overweight, which puts them at a higher risk of developing diabetes and other serious health conditions, the report said.

The study — based on telephone interviews in English and Spanish with more than 4,000 adults nationwide — also found:

— A small minority of Latinos — 6 percent — seek health care from "folk healers" such as "curanderos," or shamans, who they believe have special powers to cure the sick. Vega said it is similar to the popular nationwide trend of using alternative medicine in addition to traditional care.

— A large majority of Latinos who received health care in the past year — 77 percent — said that the care was good or excellent. Those who reported poor treatment said it was because of their financial limitations, their ethnicity, or their lack of English skills.

— About one in 12 Hispanics have obtained medical care, treatment or drugs in Latin America during the previous year. The study authors said that this is largely a phenomenon along the U.S.-Mexico border.

— Hispanic women were much more likely to have a primary care physician than Hispanic men.