News and Numbers: Uninsured Hispanics

Debra: According to this week’s AHRQ News and Numbers, nearly 21 percent of Hispanics under age 65, or roughly 7.8 million people, reported being continuously uninsured for at least two years when surveyed in 2002 and 2003. While Hispanics represented less than 11 percent of Americans who had health insurance throughout the period, they comprised more than 32 percent of the long-term uninsured population under age 65. These data are from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.