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Eric Moreno

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.

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Articles by Eric Moreno

Latinos from New Jersey Sign Up for ACA through Bilingual Fairs



Save Latin America is an advocacy group for the Hispanic community of New Jersey and New York City. The group was established with the goal of providing educational counseling, health, and social services. One of their main projects is hosting bilingual health fairs, particularly in an effort to increase Latinos to sign up for health coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The area their recent health fairs have targeted has 78% Latino population. Save Latin America has noted that Latinos are less insured in the U.S. compared to other races and ethnicities. While the uninsured rate has declined by 11.5%, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), nearly 30% of Latinos in the country are still uninsured. “The hospital sometimes intimidates ...

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HHS Initiative Targets Latinos



U.S. health officials and community advocates are making a final push to sign up the difficult to reach Latino population. Latinos have seen some of the largest coverage gains since the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, as the deadline to sign up for coverage during the open enrollment period comes to a close on January 31, they are more likely to be uninsured than other Americans. “With the help of our partners, we’re going to push for a very strong finish,” said Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. One in five Latino adults still live without health coverage, according to a recent Urban Institute study. It was also determined that four out of five Latinos weren’t aware that there was financial help available to ...

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Study Finds Poverty a Strong Factor in Childhood Obesity



According to a new research report, poverty is a better predictor of childhood obesity than race. Based on information from 110,000 Massachusetts students, a statistical model found that, as children’s families income dropped their obesity rates rose. The report found that obesity rates were higher among Latino children. The researchers suspected that a lack of parks, full-service grocery stores, and recreational programs in poorer neighborhoods may lead to children in poverty to eating unhealthier foods and exercising less. “The findings reveal differences in the inequalities in the physical and social environment in which children are raised,” said Dr. Kim Eagle, the senior study author and director at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center. “It ...

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Latino Children in Maryland More Likely to Be Uninsured



According to a new national report, Latino children in Maryland are more than twice as likely as other American children to have no health insurance. The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families reported that more than 15,000 Latino children in the state were uninsured in 2014. “There are language access barriers, worries about immigration consequences for themselves or family members,” said Anna Davis, health policy director at Advocates for Children and Youth. “And there is the complexity of the rules themselves.” According to Davis, the majority of the uninsured children are U.S. citizens and most are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Latino children are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Getting ...

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Time Dwindling for Latinos to Sign Up for Health Coverage



The deadline to sign up for coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) open enrollment is rapidly approaching. January 31 is the last day to obtain coverage during this period. Of the 17.6 million Americans who have signed up for coverage through the ACA, 4 million are Latinos. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there are still nearly 10 million Latinos that are still eligible for coverage through the marketplace. Even though Latinos saw the biggest decrease in uninsured rates, they remain the largest racial and ethnic group with the highest rates of uninsured. “The Latino community still suffers from health disparities like disproportionate rates of asthma, diabetes, and certain cancers,” said HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell. ...

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Rate of Uninsured Latino Children Lowered Significantly   



A study by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the National Council of La Raza has found that Texas has made major strides in enrolling Latino children in Medicaid and in the Children’s Health Insurance Policy (CHIP) programs. “We know Latino children are the fastest-growing segment of our entire population,” said Sonya Schwartz, policy fellow with Georgetown. “They’re growing from one in four children today, to one in three children by 2050. And Hispanic children will be our nation’s future doctors, teachers, and workers.” The study reports nationally, the number of uninsured Latino children fell by 15% from 2013 to 2014. This was a drop of nearly 300,000. In Texas, there was a 9% decline in the number of uninsured Latino children during the ...

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NIH Program Encourages Latino Men to Exercise



The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have instituted a program to encourage Latino men to engage in more exercise. The University of California, San Diego is conducting the study, which will employ text messages in an attempt to employ a “low-cost” strategy to reach Mexican-Americans. “Mexican-American men report high rates of inactivity and related health conditions,” said a grant for the project. “The proposed study seeks to promote physical activity among this at-risk, understudied population by developing interactive and tailored text-messages to enhance a print-based physical activity intervention for Spanish-speaking [Mexican-American] men.” According to the project, many Latino men have limited access to outlets for physical activity. The report also says that ...

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Small and Solo Latino Family Practices Provide Critical Services



According to a report published in the Annals of Family Medicine, more than half of family physicians seeking board certification work in small solo practices, especially Hispanic or Latino physicians. One fifth of the small practices are in rural settings. “Our findings have implications for the future of family medicine,” said one of the report’s authors, Dr. Winston R. Liaw of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “First, smaller practices may be missing out on hew payment models that are dependent on patient-centered medial home certification.” Small or solo practices were more commonly the choice for Hispanic physicians. Dr. Liaw and colleagues analyzed demographic survey data from 10,888 family physicians seeking certification through the American Board of ...

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New Report Addresses Health Disparities in American Cities



American cities today face many unique challenges, including the problem of health disparities. Because they prevent children and families, especially among minorities such as Latinos, from reaching their full potential, health disparities are a major problems for city leaders. Mayors and other city leaders across the country make decisions every day that impact the ability of children and families to make healthy choices. With that in mind, the Learning Collaborative identified five actions that mayors can take to address childhood obesity-related health disparities. A new report from the National League of Cities has determined five actions that can be taken to help eliminate health disparities in their cities. These actions have implications for Latino childhood obesity ...

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