At the same time, the influx of retirees living on fixed incomes limits the revenue that can be raised through taxes. And while the Southwest's large Hispanic population provides cheap labor and ethnic charm, the uninsured rate among Hispanics is three times as high as that of non-Hispanic whites. High degree of mobility Other factors also play a role. The Southwest is home to many young adults, who often don't have health insurance. There is a high degree of mobility and transience among people living in the Southwest.
Educational levels are often low.
And organized labor, which has played a role in obtaining health insurance and other benefits for workers in other parts of the country, has less influence in the Southwest. Federal welfare reform in 1996 may have contributed to the number of uninsured, in the Southwest and nationwide, in two ways. People going off welfare don't go into civil service jobs or large Fortune 500 companies with nice benefits. They typically go into retail, or service, or small businesses where the benefits are much less generous. The consensus in the social services community is that many of these working poor either didn't realize they were still eligible for Medicaid, or didn't want to go through the redetermination process.