Preventive care use among Hispanic adults with limited comfort speaking English: An analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data.

Abstract

Language barriers have been associated with worse access to healthcare and poorer health outcomes. To assess differences in access to care and utilization of healthcare services between Hispanic adults and non-Hispanic white adults (NHW), we used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2013-2016) to compare Hispanic adults who expressed limited comfort speaking in English (LCE) with Hispanic adults who were comfortable speaking in English (CE) and NHW adults. Hispanic adults with CE were less likely than NHW adults to have a usual source of care, use preventive services, including cervical cancer screening, and healthcare services. However, after adjustment breast and cervical cancer screening exceeded that of NHW adults. Hispanic adults with LCE fared substantially worse than their Hispanic counterparts with CE in having a usual source of care, use of preventive services, breast and colorectal cancer screening, and healthcare services. After adjustment, use of all cancer screening tests were similar. Eliminating disparities for Hispanic adults will require a multi-pronged approach to address access to healthcare and other social determinants of health, including poverty, employment discrimination, and educational inequities. The public health community can help improve health literacy, address barriers to care, and provide appropriate language assistance at point of care using culturally-competent means to promote greater utilization of preventive services, including demand for and delivery of cancer screenings.