ABSTRACT
Few elderly Hispanics have birth certificates, marriage certificates, or other legal documents that attest to significant life events. More than 205 million Americans, 86 percent of the civilian population, have some form of health insurance. The Hispanic elderly constitute a large and ethnically diverse subgroup of the Hispanic population of the United States that has been largely ignored in the development of health programs and policies. Unfortunately, in the case of the Hispanic minority and the elderly poor, policymakers divert their attention to younger age cohorts. Older Hispanics are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than non-Hispanic whites. In 1988, almost 31 percent of aged Hispanics lived in poverty, compared to 14 percent among aged non-Hispanic whites. Major medical problems reported by elderly Hispanics include arthritis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cognitive impairment, depression, dysphoria, and cerebrovascular disease.
