Information from the annual Kids Count survey released Tuesday shows Latino children in Iowa are more than three-times as likely to be uninsured than their white and black counterparts. Five years ago the number of uninsured black and Latino children in Iowa was about equal at a little more than 10 percent.
Joe Enriquez Henry, the director of the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, says the state of Iowa has failed to promote healthcare within the Latino community. “I think the difference is that within the African-American community is that you have several generations of families that understand how access health care and other programs. Whereas within the Latino community you have a lot of young families, some are just first generation. They may not understand how the system works,” Henry says.
Henry recommends the state approach parents through their children’s school or by mailings, instead of using the internet, since fewer Latinos have access.