Hispanic Youths Tend To Be Sicker and Lack Insurance, Study Says

By Linda Jacobson

Hispanic children are more likely than their white and black peers to have health problems and to have no insurance when in need of care, according to a federal report that provides an up-to-date and sometimes bleak picture of American children's health.

The study, "Children's Health 1996," also found that minority children and teenagers are far less likely than others to have a regular source of health care. Children without a regular doctor or clinic are less likely to get preventive-health services.

And just because parents work doesn't mean that children will get health coverage through a parent's employer. Almost 90 percent of the children with no health insurance live in homes where an adult is working, the report says. When families allow health problems to go untreated, the most common reason given is because...