Hispanic Baby Boomers: Health Inequities Likely to Persist in Old Age (The Gerontologist)

Many Mexican American and Mexican immigrant baby boomers will enter their later years of life with two strikes against them — the health risks accumulated over a lifetime of low socio-economic status and the discrimination and stress of being Latino. So says this article in The Gerontologist's special issue on baby boomers, in which Steven P. Wallace, the Center's associate director, and three other co-authors, note that the fastest growing population among those aged 65 years and over are Latinos, who will represent nearly 20 percent of the senior population by 2050.   Using CHIS data, researchers found that Immigrants are largely healthier than U.S.-born Mexicans (i.e. immigrants have lower obesity rates), and in some cases, they also do better than whites (i.e. immigrants have lower blood pressure.) But there is evidence that this immigrant advantage declines over time. For Mexican-American seniors, inequalities experienced at young ages, such as many of them working in low-wage jobs that don't offer health insurance or retirement benefits, will impact their later years and result in poor health. Proposals to raise the eligibility age for Medicare and reduce Social Security benefits should take into account the impact they would have on this already marginalized population, the authors said. ​

Publication Authors:

• Valentine M. Villa, PhD, MSG, MPA
• Steven P. Wallace, PhD
• Sofya Bagdasaryan
• Maria P. Aranda