The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently launched its latest Spanish-language website.  CuidadodeSalud.gov is the first Spanish-language site of its kind purposed to provide Spanish speaking consumers with information on public and private health coverage options.  The release of this website fulfills a mandate found in the Affordable Care Act and is the partner site of HealthCare.gov – launched in July 2010.  As an added benefit – the website also provides step-by-step information on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, stated that “CuidadoDeSalud.gov will give Latinos across the nation better information about the choices they have, how much they cost, and what they can expect from their doctor–specific to their life situation and local community.”

GovMonitor reported the following key findings, as it relates to Latino health care in the U.S.

• Latinos have the highest rates of un-insurance in the nation, with more than one in three Latinos uninsured.
• Latinos are only half as likely to have a usual source of primary care, and half of Latinos do not have a regular doctor.
• Twenty percent of low-income Latino youth have gone a year without a health care visit – a rate three times higher than that for high-income Whites.
• Latinas have disproportionate rates of cervical cancer, which they contract at twice the rate of white women.
• Since 1998, mammography levels have been lower among Latinas compared with non-Hispanic white and black women.

While the aforementioned findings are grim at best, this website is expected to provide much needed health-related resources and information to a growing Latino population in an increasingly digital society.  Certainly a step in the right direction – one that will help improve the health outlook for Latinos.