Factor in data and doctor visits

Re “Latinos as healthcare saviors?” Opinion, Oct. 6

I pose another question: Could Latinos’ overall good health at least in part be a result of this group not seeing doctors as often as non-Latino whites? I can see that, as an insurance strategy, the premiums paid by a healthier group would compensate for the expense created by those with more health issues. But what if Latinos, once insured, used medical services more often? All it takes is to get medication for an ailment to start suffering from some side effects that will promptly get the patient back to the doctor’s office, to treat that secondary effect whose treatment will surely produce yet another side effect. I’d say, let Latinos continue doing whatever they’ve been doing to stay relatively healthy, and think of a less-Machiavellian way to save the health system.

Berta

Graciano-Buchman

Beverly Hills

It is premature to assert that healthcare and health insurance will benefit from including more Latinos. This article implies that there is a strong association between being Latino and having improved health outcomes as evidenced by lower overall mortality in general and reduced mortality from coronary heart disease and cancers. A valid epidemiological approach to evaluating such an association is to ask first, could it be caused by some form of artifact, i.e. created by how we get the data. If Latinos come to this country to work, there are special efforts to count them in the census data. If they become ill, can’t work and leave the country before they die, their deaths will not be attributed back to where they lived.

Thus the death rate, calculated by dividing the number of reported deaths by the population, will be reduced. Such an artifact should be ruled out before policy recommendations are based on the observed (statistical) health benefits of being Latino.

Thomas J.

Prendergast Jr., MD

Fountain Valley

The writer is a retired health officer and registrar of vital records for San Bernardino County.