"Thirty-four percent of Hispanics don't have any health care at all, don't have any health insurance."
Dennis Kucinich on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 in a debate in Miami, Fla.
Indeed, Hispanics have highest percentage
We interpret his statement as a reference to health insurance coverage -- not a claim that Hispanics are denied all health care -- and find it to be accurate.
The January 2007 report Key Facts: Race, Ethnicity & Medical Care, published by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, notes that 34 percent of Hispanics are without health insurance coverage. The report cites 2005 estimates by the Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
The report also notes that of all racial/ethnic minority groups, Hispanics have "the highest percentage of uninsured, and the lowest percentage of people with employer coverage."
The 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality said that Hispanics have less access to health care than non-Hispanic whites and are more likely to receive poorer-quality care.
Published: Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 12:00 a.m.
Subjects: Health Care
Sources:
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Key Facts: Race, Ethnicity & Medical Care, January 2007U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report
Written by: John Martin
Researched by: John Martin
Edited by: Bill Adair
We want to hear your suggestions and comments.
For tips or comments on our Obameter and our GOP-Pledge-O-Meter promise databases, please e-mail the Obameter. If you are commenting on a specific promise, please include the wording of the promise.
For comments about our Truth-O-Meter or Flip-O-Meter items, please e-mail the Truth-O-Meter. We’re especially interested in seeing any chain e-mails you receive that you would like us to check out. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.Keep up to date with Politifact:
- Sign up for our e-mail (about once a week)
- Put a free PolitiFact widget on your blog or Web page
- Subscribe to our RSS feeds on Truth-O-Meter items
- Subscribe to our RSS feeds on GOP Pledge-O-Meter items
- Subscribe to our RSS feeds on Obameter items
- Follow us on Twitter
- Fan us on Facebook
- Advertise on PolitiFact
- Shop the PolitiFact store for T-shirts, hats and other PolitiFact swag


