"Undocumented Latinos are aging without savings, government care"
USA Today interviewed Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante about the impact on the U.S. healthcare system of increasing age among Latinos.
In 1998, Noe Ramirez crossed into the United States from Mexico, hoping to earn enough to buy a new taxi to replace the sputtering cab he drove in Mexico City. The part-time musician found construction work in Houston, playing guitar on the weekends.
One morning as he rode his bike to work, he was hit by a drunk driver. The driver fled, leaving him bleeding on the street, his spinal cord crushed. After being hospitalized, he was taken in by a local shelter for undocumented migrants, receiving medical care through a county program for low-income residents.
Ramirez knows he might not be as lucky were something to happen to him again. While he and his wife these days live on their own, Ramirez, 53, who uses a wheelchair, wonders how the couple will grapple with getting older without the retirement and health benefits enjoyed by U.S. citizens.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
EMPH Academic Program Director with expertise in healthcare marketing, finance, and reproductive health policy, teaching in the EMPH, MPH, MHA program
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
Dr. Ron Andersen is the Wasserman Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Departments of Health Policy and Management.
Nationally recognized health services researcher and sociomedical scientist with 25+ years' experience in effectiveness and implementation research.
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