Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the Faculty Research Director at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute. He has a broad background in health policy, with specific training and expertise in health care disparities research and secondary data analysis, health care cost analysis, and program design, implementation and evaluation. His research investigates unexplored or underexplored topics on access to and use of health care, predominantly among Latinos/Hispanics and immigrants in the United States. He also specializes in the comparative analyses of health care delivery systems in Latin American countries. His research has been published in reputable health policy journals such as Health Affairs, Health Services Research, Social Science and Medicine, Medical Care, among others. The outcomes of his research have had direct policy applications, particularly since they estimate the share of disparities that can be attributed to socioeconomic and demographic factors and the corresponding part associated to health system variables, such as usual source of care and insurance status.
Professor Bustamante holds a PhD (2008) in Public Policy, an M.A. (2006) in Economics and an M.P.P. (2004) all from UC-Berkeley. As part of his professional experience, he worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and for the California Program on Access to Care. Before, he worked for the Health Care Financing Administration of the Mexican Ministry of Health.
Affiliations
Education
- PhD, Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 2008
- MA, Economics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 2006
- MPP, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 2004
- Lic, El Colegio de México, 2000
Selected Courses
- Health Policy and Management 200A: Health Care Organization and Financing
Selected Publications
Contributions to Latino/Hispanic Health Care Research
- Bustamante AV, Fang H, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Understanding observed and unobserved health care access and utilization disparities among US Latino adults. Medical Care Research & Review, 2009, 66(5):561-77.
- Bustamante AV, Fang H, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Heterogeneity in health insurance coverage among US Latino adults. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2009, 24 (3):561-6.
- Bustamante AV, Chen J, Rodriguez HP, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Use of preventive care services among Latino subgroups. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2010, 38(6):610-9.
- Bustamante AV, Chen J. Physicians cite hurdles ranging from lack of coverage to poor communication in providing high-quality care to latinos. Health Affairs, 2011, 30(10): 1921-9.
- Bustamante, AV, R McKenna, J Viana, AN Ortega, Chen J. Access to care differences between Mexican-heritage and other Latinos in California after the Affordable Care Act, Health Affairs, 2018,37(9):1400-8.
Contributions to Immigrant Health Care Research
- Bustamante AV, Fang H, Garza J, Carter-Pokras O, Wallace SP, Rizzo JA, Ortega AN. Variations in healthcare access and utilization among Mexican immigrants: the role of documentation status. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Center for Minority Public Health, 2012, 14(1):146-55.
- Bustamante AV, Chen J. Health expenditure dynamics and years of U.S. residence: analyzing spending disparities among Latinos by citizenship/nativity status. Health Services Research, 2013, 47(2):794-818.
- Bustamante, AV, Chen J, R McKenna, Ortega AN. Health Care Access and Utilization Among US Immigrants Before and After the Affordable Care Act. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Center for Minority Public Health, 2019, 21(2): 211-18.
- Bustamante, AV, Chen J, L Félix Beltrán, Ortega AN. Health Policy Challenges Posed By Shifting Demographics And Health Trends Among US Immigrants. Health Affairs, 2021, 40(7): 1028-37.
- Bustamante AV, L Félix Beltrán, J Nwadiuko, AN Ortega. Avoiding Medicaid Enrollment After the Reversal of the Changes in the Public Charge Rule Among Latino and Asian Immigrants. Health Services Research, 2022, 57(2):195-203.
Contributions to Border and International Health Care Research
- Bustamante, AV, Ojeda G, Castaneda X. Willingness to pay for cross-border health insurance between the United States and Mexico. Health Affairs, 2008, 27(1):169-78.
- Bustamante, AV. The tradeoff between centralized and decentralized health services: evidence from rural areas in Mexico. Social Science & Medicine, 2010, 71(5):925-34.
- Bustamante AV, Mendez CA. Healthcare privatization in Latin America: what explains diverging healthcare privatization policies in Chile, Colombia and Mexico, Journal of Health Care Politics, Policy and the Law, 2014, 39(4):841-86.
- Bustamante, AV, Shimoga S. Comparing the income elasticity of health spending in middle-income and high-income countries: the role of financial protection, International Journal of Health Policy & Management, 2018,7(3): 255-263.
- Bustamante, AV, M Vilar-Compte, Ochoa Lagunas A. Social Support and Chronic Disease Management Among Older Adults of Mexican Descent: A U.S.-Mexico Perspective. Social Science and Medicine, 2019,216(1):107-113.