Latino health

At a news conference on Aug. 26, Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said it’s crucial for Hoosiers to participate in contact tracing.  

“So If you get a text or a phone call from the state department of health about an important public health matter, please answer the text, answer the call,” she said.  

Glenda Cervantes’s work at the Saline County Health Department usually involves helping people see if they qualify for social services. But for the last two months she’s been responding to the local COVID-19 outbreak instead. “I still remember the day they said we got our first positive and we’re going to need someone’s help," she says.

Hispanics are the least likely racial and ethnic group to see a doctor when they have health problems. That’s according to a study by the Census Bureau. There are several barriers that discourage some from that community from seeking medical attention in the U.S.

A new report out Thursday morning from Georgetown University and the group La Raza has found in 2014, some 300,000 Latino children got health insurance, dropping the uninsured rate to less than 10 percent, thanks in part to healthcare law known as Obamacare.

It turns out getting children on Medicaid — even healthy kids — matters more than you might think. Georgetown’s Sonya Schwartz said it’s a kind of golden ticket.