Eric Moreno is a Content Curator with the Salud America! program at UT Health San Antonio. He specializes in covering the topics of health equity and family and social support. He holds a BA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an MA from Gonzaga University.
Where you live has an undeniable impact on your overall health. Lack of access to spaces for physical activity, healthy food choices, and health care options often plague those that live in low-income neighborhoods. This includes many Latino families. This confluence of conditions often lead to residents becoming overweight and/or obese and suffering from diabetes, respiratory illnesses, and heart disease. In recent years, cities – often finding governments working with residents – have begun exploring ways to make cities healthier. This has included improving access to repairing sidewalks, adopting shared use agreements, and creating physical activity opportunities in public spaces. All of these efforts have not gone unnoticed. The fitness tracking application, Fit Bit, has ...
Health equity can be a hard-to-understand concept. A new report has a clear, simple definition: "Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier." Achieving health equity means removing obstacles to health. Obstacles like "poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care," according to the report. The report is by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of California, San Francisco. Unfortunately, health equity sometimes doesn't exist. Latinos and other minority and low-income groups suffer health inequities and disparities. These are deeply rooted in socio-economic ...
Despite significant gains made under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Latinos still remain the largest uninsured population in the country. A lack of access to health care has been one of the most persistent causes of health inequity for many Latino families. One of the main barriers to access is often the cost associated with health insurance. A new report has determined that the costs for healthcare may have leveled off, but that is not necessarily a positive. According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute (HRI), a “new normal” for medical costs has been determined. The HRI expects the medical cost growth to be 6.5% from where it is this year for 2018. “Even with net growth rate expected to hold at 5.5% for next year, [due to likely changes in ...
Access to healthcare is one of the main inequities that many Latinos regularly face. Despite being the largest racial and ethnic minority group in the country, they are still the largest uninsured group in the nation. In California, an effort has been underway for quite some time to help alleviate the problem. However, it has faced a temporary setback. A proposed program in the heavily Latino-populated state of California (38.39% Latino population) that would have given health benefits to all undocumented young adults as part of Medi-Cal failed to make it into the state’s budget. Known as “Health for All Young Adults,” the program has been spearheaded by the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, the California Immigrant Policy Center, and Health Access California. The ...
A brain aneurysm changed the life of María Emilce López forever—for the better. While a grad student at the University of Minnesota in the 1990s, the Argentine native’s severe headaches led her to be rushed into surgery to treat what turned out to be a brain aneurysm. This was her first, very scary brush with the American medical system. After her ordeal, she decided it was time to help others who might be in a similar position. López, now a senior teaching specialist at the University of Minnesota, helped create new medical Spanish classes that not only teach cultural competency, but also had a unique requirement of students. Update 6/19/20: López passed away in June 2020. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.
Navigating a health crisis María Emilce ...
Latinos are the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States. About 1 in 3 of the nation's Latinos are younger than 18, and nearly 6 in 10 Latinos are either millennial (ages 18-33) or younger, Pew research shows. But, as Latinos and all millennials become a larger portion of the U.S. workforce, the reality of the "millennial wage gap" is growing, Fortune reports. The average wage for millennials is the highest, $40,046 a year, in Washington, D.C. (10.16% Latino population). The lowest by far, $16,999, is in Mississippi (2.9% Latino). The national average is $40,356 for workers ages 35-65. "Millennials may act as if they’re entitled to ultrahigh salaries, but in most parts of the U.S. they still don’t earn them," Fortune reports.
How Much Do Latino ...
For many immigrant families, the current political climate adds a great deal of stress to their lives. Many Latinos already face inequities in health care; they are still the largest uninsured population in the U.S. In South Carolina (5.2% Latino population), this stress is now manifesting in even harsher ways. According to a report in The Post and Courier, many immigrant families in the state are not only foregoing health care services for the adult family members, but also their children. “We’ve gotten calls from the health department of mothers not coming to ... appointments, not showing up for immunizations,” said Julie Smithwick, executive director of the Latino assistance group PASOs. The statewide group connects Latino patients to health care resources across South ...
Latinos are the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States. According to 2014 Pew Research study, about over 17.9 million of the nation’s Latino population is younger than 18. Nearly 25% all Latinos are Millennials (ages 18-33 in 2014). Overall, nearly six-in-ten Latinos are Millennials or younger. As Millennials become a larger portion of the American workforce the reality of the wage gap becomes clearly apparent. The differences between the average wage for Millennials across the United States is staggering. In Washington, DC (10.16% Latino population), the average wage for Millennials is by far the highest at $40,046 annually. The lowest by far is Mississippi (2.9% Latino population). According to Fortune, North Dakota (which is the second-highest average for ...
Across the country, Latinos suffer vast differences in health conditions than whites. These health disparities manifest themselves in several ways. These inequities are rooted in social disadvantage and affect educational attainment, income and personal wealth, housing, and mental and physical health. Chicago (29.09% Latino population), the third largest city in the U.S., has an unfortunately long history with racial inequities. A new report by the University of Illinois at Chicago sheds light on the current state of these inequities. The report, entitled “A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago,” tells about the “divergent conditions” of blacks, Latinos, and whites in terms of housing, economics, education, justice, and health. “On virtually ...
