a Department of Sociology and LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas , Austin , Texas , USA.
b The Hastings Center , Garrison , New York, USA.
J Aging Soc Policy. 2018 May-Jun;30(3-4):300-315. doi: 10.1080/08959420.2018.1462678. Epub 2018 May 8.
Health and social welfare policy proposals put forth by the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress could have huge impacts on low-income groups. This paper focuses on older Hispanics, with an emphasis on the Mexican-origin population who form the largest Hispanic subgroup. A demographic portrait is presented that indicates that Mexican-origin individuals have less wealth and lower incomes than do non-Hispanic Whites. Given rising health care costs, lower use of nursing homes, and greater propensity to live with grown children, prevailing economic disadvantage has serious consequences for this population. More restrictive immigration policies aimed at limiting family reunification could have intergenerational caregiving consequences. In addition, because of labor-force disadvantages, low-income Mexican-origin adults are less likely to have private insurance compared to non-Hispanic Whites as they approach retirement. Consequently, Mexican-origin older adults tend to rely on Medicaid when eligible; in contrast, late-life migrants-who do not qualify for federally funded benefits for at least five years-and unauthorized migrants-who are excluded from federally funded benefits-have extremely limited access to safety net provisions. The potential effects of proposed cutbacks in health care financing on older Hispanics are discussed.
特朗普政府和共和党控制的国会提出的卫生和社会福利政策建议可能对低收入群体产生巨大影响。本文重点关注老年西班牙裔群体，特别是构成最大西班牙裔群体的墨西哥裔人口。呈现出的人口统计画像表明，与非西班牙裔白人相比，墨西哥裔个体的财富更少，收入更低。考虑到不断上升的医疗保健成本、对养老院的使用减少，以及与成年子女同住的倾向，这种普遍的经济劣势对这一人群造成了严重后果。旨在限制家庭团聚的更严格移民政策可能会对代际护理产生影响。此外，由于劳动力劣势，与非西班牙裔白人相比，低收入的墨西哥裔成年人在接近退休时不太可能拥有私人保险。因此，墨西哥裔老年人在符合条件时往往依赖医疗补助；相比之下，晚年移民（至少五年没有资格获得联邦资助的福利）和非授权移民（被排除在联邦资助的福利之外）获得安全网规定的机会极为有限。本文还讨论了拟议削减医疗保健融资对老年西班牙裔的潜在影响。
