While more than one-third of Hispanics under 65 years of age who live in the United States do not have health insurance, the portion without insurance among those who are not U.S. citizens is far larger - nearly two-thirds -- according to a new report by HHS\' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

By comparison, about a quarter of Hispanics who are U.S. citizens are uninsured.

AHRQ\'s report, based on a 2004 survey, examines public and private insurance coverage among Hispanics overall and among three subgroups - Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and ``other Hispanics.\'\' The latter category primarily includes persons of Cuban, Dominican, South or Central American, or Spanish birth or descent.

The report, which analyzed the insurance status of Hispanics under 65, showed that:

-- Sixty-seven percent of non-citizen Mexican-Americans are uninsured. For other non-citizen Hispanics, the percentage is 50.5 percent.

-- Sixteen percent of Puerto Ricans living in the United States are uninsured. Virtually all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

-- Among Hispanics overall, about 12 percent of non-citizens have public health insurance, such as Medicaid. The rate is about 30 percent for those who are U.S. citizens.

-- Puerto Ricans have the highest public-only insurance rate - about 38 percent. The rate is approximately 24 and 21 percent, respectively, for Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics.

-- Non-citizen Mexican-Americans are almost three times less likely to have public-only coverage than their citizen counterparts - 11.5 percent versus approximately 30 percent. The corresponding numbers for other Hispanics are roughly 12 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

The data in this AHRQ News and Numbers come from the agency\'s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the nation\'s most complete survey of how Americans use and pay for health care, including their health insurance coverage. AHRQ, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works to enhance America\'s health care system by developing and promoting evidence to improve quality, efficiency, effectiveness and safety.

For more information, see MEPS Statistical Brief #143: Health Insurance Status of Hispanic Subpopulations in 2004, available through http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
540 Gaither Rd.
Rockville, MD 20850
United States
http://www.ahrq.gov/news/vnewsix.htm