US Latinos and other populations made historic gains in healthcare coverage in the years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to five recent research briefs from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). In the research brief focused on Latinos, research showed that the uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7% to 18% from 2010 to 2022. However, the brief also found that Latinos are more than twice as likely as non-Latino Whites to be uninsured. Let’s further explore health insurance coverage among Latinos.
Latinos Facing Health Challenges
For Latinos, health outcomes are affected by factors like lack of health insurance, language challenges, and lack of access to care. “Studies show that people without health ...
In 2020, COVID-19 shut down the world.
People were forced to navigate social isolation, food shortages, business closures, virtual schooling, reduced work hours, and job loss amid the pandemic.
Latino families suffered from some of the highest rates of COVID-related mortality and impact on non-medical drivers of health, worsening Latino health issues.
With 2020 now several years past, how bad was the pandemic for Latinos?
6 in 10 (62%) Latino households with children experienced at least one material hardship in the form of housing quality, bill-paying, food insecurity, and/or medical hardship in 2020, according to a new report from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families that looks back at the impact of COVID-19 on Latinos. Material Hardship in 2020 amid ...
With heat reaching record-breaking numbers every summer in some states, evidence points to our environment changing. For instance, Florida saw its hottest year on record since 1895 when the surface temperatures reached 177 degrees in places. Heat indices rose to triple digits multiple days in a row in Texas, making 2023 the second-hottest summer on record. In the wake of extreme heat, weather experts have advised people to limit their time outside when the sun is out, especially for the population’s most vulnerable people like seniors and children. But what about those who can’t escape the heat? Despite the weather, outdoor workers are braving the elements to provide a valuable service to support their families. Many of these workers are Latino. While ...
Latinos make up 18% of the American workforce and are the fastest growing working population in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. However, there is a lack of Latino representation in corporate leadership, and few occupy high paying jobs in lucrative industries like engineering, technology, and science.
Due to differences stemming from generations of racism and oppression, many Latinos work labor-intensive jobs in industries such as agriculture, building and ground maintenance, and construction.
These jobs are more physically demanding, putting stress on the body, and are performed outdoors, where workers are exposed to the elements and pollution.
Working these jobs can endanger the health and safety of employees.
Latino workers die on the job more than any ...
More than 100,000 people are waiting for a life-changing organ transplant in the US, according to the American Heart Association. The stark reality is that nearly 23% of those on the transplant candidate waiting list are Latino — that’s one out of every five people. In fact, 59% of all transplant candidates on the waiting list are Black, Latino, or Asian. These populations are unevenly affected by chronic diseases, leading to the need for a transplant. In 2023, Latinos received 8,540 of the over 46,000 transplants performed, including 580 hearts, according to the American Heart Association. Despite the number of transplants performed and Latinos on the waiting list, organ donation remains low in the Latino community.
Latino Organ Donorship
While organs ...
In recent years, researchers have made a larger effort to tap into previously overlooked communities, such as communities of color, to create more complete research that benefits everyone. But many people still have deep-rooted mistrust of research. And not all researchers who work with these communities end up bringing the benefits of their research back to boost the health of those communities. The PATIENTS Program at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is attempting to rewrite the narrative and give researchers, patients, caregivers, and others the tools to provide a continuous patient-centered approach to research. The PATIENTS Professors Academy is a free, virtual training course centered around improving health and the health outcomes of overlooked ...
For the last several years, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program has endeavored to collect the health data of over 1 million Americans to ensure healthcare works for all of us. Are they close to 1 million participants? How has it helped boost research? Let’s look at five notable milestones the program has reached in its mission to build a health data network that looks like all of us. 1. Increasing the Variety in Research Participation With help from local community partnerships, including UT Health San Antonio, across the country, over 790,000 people nationwide have decided to join the program’s expansive and inclusive research network, the program announced in a recent news release. In addition, over 540,000 participants ...
For the last few years, the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program has mounted an unprecedented effort to collect health data from 1 million people of all ages and ethnicities across the country for use in impactful scientific research.
In fact, the data has led researchers to a shocking discovery — 275 million previously unknown genetic variants, according to a recent news release.
Nearly 4 million of the variants are in areas that may be connected to risk for disease.
The variants, uncovered using data shared by nearly 250,000 All of Us participants, put researchers in a position to better understand genetic influences on health and disease, especially in communities often left out of research.
NIH reported that half the genomic data came from Latino, ...
The Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF) is giving a few scholars funding to research chronic diseases in Latino communities with help from the All of Us Research Program.
The new funding builds on HAF’s effort to improve Latino health by supporting researchers.
In 2022-2023, Healthy Americas Research Consortium awarded $10,000 each to 10 scholars to help understand cervical cancer screening issues, experiences with accessing screening, and ways to increase Pap and HPV screening in Latino and other underserved communities.
Projects utilized data from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Hub.
NIH’s All of Us Research Program is a national campaign to collect and study data from 1 million or more Americans to help inform studies and accelerate research that ...
