“Light Bulb Moments” is a new weekly feature that will be appearing in BenefitsPRO to provide easy, user-friendly tips for benefits and financial professionals, as well as employers who work with Spanish speakers.

If you missed it, be sure to check out last week's tip.

Our system is difficult enough to navigate for those of us born and raised here. So people who come to this country from Latin America to work are often extremely confused, as they are accustomed to a very different way of doing things.

First of all, one can often get a larger variety of stronger medication in Latin America from a pharmacy without a prescription. So these folks can be reluctant to pay for insurance, pay to visit a doctor to get a prescription, and then pay for their medication. They are accustomed to going straight to the drug store and paying once to get what they need (or what the pharmacist thinks they need). Some pharmacies in Mexico even have doctors on staff whom you can consult without an appointment for a very modest fee.

In addition, while health care in Latin America can be expensive for people of modest means, the costs, on average, are far less than they are in the United States. If someone needs surgery, sometimes family members will chip in, somebody sells a truck, and the cost of care is covered. When Spanish speakers learn how much surgery or other extensive health care services in this country might cost, they realize that they have nowhere near enough family members or trucks. They decide they will have an alternate plan, which often consists simply of hoping for the best.

For people who grew up in Latin America unable to afford care there, being unable to afford care here is really no big deal. It is a fact of life they are accustomed to, and they are generally reluctant to make it a priority to pay for expensive insurance so that they can access expensive health care. In either case, the initial communication these folks need is on the role health insurance plays in building financial stability and security in this country. And yet we tend to throw plan details at them without laying this ground work (see Light Bulb Moment Número 1).

Tune in next week for Light Bulb Moment Número 3!

Melissa Burkhart is the founder and president of Futuro Sólido, which provides a wide variety of Spanish language services, including written translation, on-site interpretation, and language instruction. They have successfully served such industries as finance, insurance, landscaping, construction, manufacturing, health care, non-profit, and hospitality. To learn more, visit www.futurosolidousa.com.

Instant Insights /

Light Bulb Moment Número 2: Health care systems in Latin America are very different from ours

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You