Latinas’ Health Care Crisis

An estimated 1.5 million Latinas in California, one-third of the state’s total, lack either private health insurance or Medi-Cal, says a new study. Most of these women get little preventive care and often delay dealing with illnesses. The result is misery for themselves, hard times for their families and an expensive public health problem.

Unemployment and low-level jobs without hope of employer-provided insurance partly explain the problem, according to the study by the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. But there are other reasons. Chief among them is immigrants’ fear that using public health programs may lead to deportation or denial of citizenship.

Another factor is that community outreach information that could ease concerns and draw Latinas into other public health programs is too limited.

Some solutions are simple. The Immigration and Naturalization Service should clarify the scope and limits of the so-called “public charge� provision in the 1996 immigration law. This provision is intended to prevent the entrance into the United States of immigrants who could end up on public assistance. Federal authorities should state that it does not affect women seeking publicly funded care, including prenatal care and cancer screening, once they are in this country.

State officials should also seek to extend to mothers the new Healthy Families program, which covers low-income children. In the shorter term, the state and cities could greatly improve Spanish-language outreach materials on preventive health care and clinic services.