What are the research findings about immigration and health? How does curanderismo impact Latinos in terms of healthcare?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Hispanics as a group are locked out of the healthcare system more often than any other racial or ethnic group. Although federal law requires that emergency medical treatment be available to all people, even illegal immigrants, many Hispanics—even those with legal residency but who have relatives here illegally—are wary of seeking medical treatment. About a third (29.1 percent) had no health insurance (or other coverage such as Medicaid) for all of 2012, compared with 11.1 percent of White non-Hispanics and 19 percent of Blacks. Predictably, the uninsured are less likely to have a regular source of medical care. This means that they wait for a crisis before seeking care. Fewer are immunized, and rates of preventable diseases such as lead poisoning are higher. Those without coverage are increasing in number, a circumstance that may reflect a further breakdown in healthcare delivery or may be a result of continuing immigration.

The healthcare problem facing Mexican Americans and other Hispanic groups is complicated by the lack of Hispanic or Spanish-speaking health professionals. Hispanics accounted for 2.5 percent of dentists and 5.2 percent of physicians. One does not need to be administered healthcare by someone in one's own ethnic group, but the paucity of Hispanic professionals increases the likelihood that the group will be underserved.

Some Mexican Americans and many other Latinos have cultural beliefs that make them less likely to use the medical system. They may interpret their illnesses according to folk practices or curanderismo: Latino folk medicine, a form of holistic healthcare and healing. This orientation influences how one approaches healthcare and even how one defines illness. Most Hispanics probably use folk healers, or curanderos, infrequently, but perhaps 20 percent rely on home remedies. Although these are not necessarily without value, especially if a dual system of folk and establishment medicine is followed, reliance on natural beliefs may be counterproductive. Another aspect of folk beliefs is the identification of folk-defined illnesses such as susto (or fright sickness) and atague (or fighting attack). Although these complaints, alien by these names to Anglos, often have biological bases, they must be dealt with carefully by sensitive medical professionals who can diagnose and treat illnesses accurately.