TULSA, Okla — According to Tulsa’s 2024 Equality Indicators, the percentage of white Tulsans with health insurance is 32 percent higher than Hispanic Tulsans.
2 News decided to delve deeper and find out why.
WATCH: Hispanics among top uninsured population in Tulsa, organizations aiming to help:
Hispanics among top uninsured population in Tulsa, organizations aiming to help
Dr. Carolina Hernandez is the Executive Director of UMA Tulsa.
It’s a Spanish-speaking non-profit with its headquarters located in east Tulsa’s Plaza Santa Cecilia.
Hernandez said families she works with have come to her talking about several obstacles that prevent them from being able to afford insurance, with a primary barrier being cost.
“The problem is where we work, Latino communities or immigrants usually are working in trades, industries, agriculture, architecture or building, food services,” she said. “These are industries that regularly don’t offer the benefits of health.”
2 News also spoke with community members like Denisse Ahuero.
She said she did run into some obstacles when trying to find out more about securing insurance.
“There was about two months where I didn’t have insurance,” she said. “I didn’t have enough information to where I knew of insurance providers that spoke my language.”
She said now, she’s glad she’s been able to find an insurance provider in east Tulsa that speaks her language, but she knows others who have faced this same problem.
Ahuero also agreed that cost can be an issue.
She said once she was able to find affordable coverage, that’s when she made the leap to buy insurance.
“If you do have an accident or something like that, then you have a way to back yourself up,” said Ahuero.
Another reason Dr. Hernandez said Latinos stray away from buying insurance is lack of information.
“People are afraid,” she said. They don’t know if they’re eligible, sometimes even knowing that they’re elgible, they don’t know if this is going to change. So they fear, even if they have the whole family here, they live, they work, they pay taxes, they fear getting close to the system.”
Currently, UMA Tulsa has seven different programs that promote physical and mental health, including free therapy and check-ups focusing on catching pre-diabetes.
For more information on how you can take advantage of these free resources, you can visit UMA’s website here or visit them at Plaza Santa Cecilia.
Isabel Flores is your North & East Tulsa reporter.
Is there something you think she should know about or look into?
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