AABE--Hispanics' medical care gap widens

WASHINGTON — Hispanics are falling further behind other whites in getting quality medical care while other minority groups are closing the gap, federal officials said Monday.

The areas where Hispanics are slipping include treatment for diabetes, mental illness and tuberculosis. Officials also found growing gaps for Hispanics in getting regular dental visits for their children and speedy care for injury or illness.

Officials say they don't know why disparities in health care are growing for Hispanics but narrowing for blacks, Asians and American Indians.

"The fact that we know it exists prompts a lot of local communities to say, 'What's going on here?' and to figure out also why it matters," said Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Clancy said people who have less access to care are more likely to be admitted to a hospital for a condition that could have been avoided, "costing all of us a lot more money."

The government, using data mostly from 2002 and 2003, measured 40 types of disparities in the quality of health care between whites and minorities. Among blacks, 58 percent of those disparities were becoming smaller and 42 percent were becoming larger.

In contrast, among the disparities between whites and Hispanics, 41 percent were becoming smaller, while 59 percent were growing.

The government also measured access to health care. In all categories, disparities narrowed for blacks, Asians and American Indians. But the gap worsened for Hispanics in five out of six categories, including access to health insurance.

Dr. Elena Rios, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, said two out of five Hispanics don't have insurance, and that group contains both legal and illegal immigrants.

"Whole communities and families that come from Latin America, where they've had health care as a right, don't know you have to apply for insurance," she said.

Clancy cited a language barrier as one potential contributor to health care disparities. The report showed that the quality of patient-provider communication as reported by patients declined among Hispanic adults (87 percent to 84 percent), even as it improved among white adults (93 percent to 94 percent).

Clancy said she did not know how much illegal immigration contributed to the growing gap. The data do not take the legal status of a patient into account.