The Impact of Cultural Health Capital on Market Choice Along the Texas-Mexico Border.

Abstract

Transnational cultural health capital (CHC) includes individual resources such as skills and behaviors patients use to manage healthcare exclusion and negotiate care. This study examines the impact of CHC on decisions by Hispanic people who live in El Paso, Texas, to utilize one or more markets for healthcare. We expand on the current literature and present novel findings by quantifying several aspects of CHC that may contribute to cross-border health-seeking behaviors in this vulnerable group which tends to suffer various health disparities and limited access to health insurance. Results support the hypotheses related to how the various cultural, social, and economic resources that comprise CHC affect market choices. This research has significant implications for understanding how border residents may mitigate a lack of accessibility and affordability for healthcare, developing transnational health policy, and aiding healthcare providers to understand their patients' choice(s) of healthcare markets.