2022 International Conference on Aging in the Americas

Abstract

Do health shocks affect Hispanics’ wealth more compared to whites? If so, what are the implications and factors components behind these potential differences? Racial and ethnic disparities in health and wealth have regularly been studied separately; we do not yet understand their interrelationships, even though Hispanics have a higher life expectancy than whites or Blacks. Using the RAND-HRS (2010-2018), this research evaluates the longitudinal relationship between health and wealth components among elderly diabetic Hispanics compared to non-Hispanic elderly diabetic populations. It also separates the analysis between US-born Hispanics and immigrant Hispanics. It further uses Census Divisions to account for differences within these Hispanic groups and levels of access to public resources. Preliminary results find a negative relationship between previous newly diagnosed diabetes on net wealth and a decrease of liquid assets for most currently diagnosed diabetes among Hispanics compared to non-Hispanics, with particular attention to immigrant Hispanics in Census Divisions with more barriers to access to public services, and after accounting for several individual and household level factors, and individual-level fixed effects. Given the degenerative health component connected to diabetes and its complications, this paper also looks at the disabilities traditionally associated with diabetic patients with complications. Comparably, a reduction of Fine Motor skills has a contemporary relationship with earnings and debts. Evidence in this paper also shows the importance of early diagnosis and preventive care, which would be translated into access to affordable care for everyone regardless of their background. Some evidence about the take-up rates of public programs among Hispanics (US-born and immigrants) is provided to shed some light on the relevance of access to safety net programs and the risk of extreme poverty in these populations. Overall, this paper contributes to the discussion of the Hispanic Health Paradox and the puzzling result that a longer life expectancy among Hispanics correlates with a higher prevalence rate of chronic conditions among this group. These results also highlight how policies