Washington, March 14 (EFEUSA).- Future health initiatives promoted by the country's legislators must take into account Latinos, since, despite being increasingly numerous, they have less health insurance than the rest of the population and They are barely dedicated to medicine, experts in Washington said today.
The high prices of health insurance, along with difficulties in understanding the complicated medical system, constitute important barriers that affect the health of Hispanics.
Furthermore, the few facilities they receive to pursue medical studies add another fundamental problem when it comes to providing care that takes this community into account, agreed today the experts gathered at the Health Conference organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute .
"The challenge for legislators is to understand the reasons why there is low enrollment in health care programs (...) We need to make sure that we are not scaring people away from such necessary services," explained the representative from the state of Florida Donna Shalala, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services during the term of former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001).
The congresswoman pointed out how in Miami Latino doctors hang posters offering help to families to enroll in Affordable Care programs, and that in many cases they are unaware or do not dare to take the step to sign up.
An opinion that was completed by the president of the National Association of Hispanic Medicine, Elena Ríos, by emphasizing that "health policies have to focus on the health of immigrants."
But to put that focus we also need more Hispanic doctors and nurses.
"Only 5% of doctors are Latino," Ríos told Efe after his intervention, "even fewer practice nursing."
This low representation among professionals influences the medical care received by the Latino community in the United States, as it represents "lack of trust, understanding and attention to the characteristics of patients and their families," Ríos considered.
The expert recalled mistakes when facing these problems, such as Congress financing large companies or universities with legislative projects and not NGOs or associations that are in contact with Latinos.
Thus, Garth N. Graham, of the insurer Aetna, which depends on the CVS pharmacy franchise, added that "only 3% of the 40,000 pharmacists in the US are Hispanic."
"It is very important to improve closeness, to make people feel integrated, because respect and understanding greatly improve health care," he argued.
For Graham, improving the local health network is a fundamental aspect that must be taken into account in the next steps to implement more accessible measures.
"It is a very important issue that will determine the future of the United States," he said.
In less than a decade, 1 in 4 citizens will be Latino, a group that is already the majority in states like California and is also underrepresented in medical research.
California legislator Nannette Barragán warned that Latinos represent "1% of participants in clinical trials," while statistics indicate that they are already close to 20% of the population.
The lack of representation has concrete effects, for example, according to the association "UsAgainstAlzheimer's", Latinos make up less than 8% of research on this disease, despite the fact that they are more than half of those affected.
Reducing these gaps will be the challenge that legislators and the health industry will have to face, although the debate about who and how the costs of a universal health system will be paid is the most difficult answer to answer and that generates the least agreement.
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