California Law Recognizes Unique Health Needs of Indigenous Latin Americans

The Latino and Indigenous Disparities Reduction Act passed both chambers of the California State Legislature with overwhelming support in August. Now, with Gov. Newsom’s sign-off, the California Department of Public Health will begin distinguishing Mesoamerican Indigenous groups in health data about Latinos. Indigenous peoples from Latin America are typically lumped into government data about Latinos, although many do not identify as Latinos themselves. The World Bank estimates there are 780 indigenous peoples and 560 indigenous languages spoken in Latin America.

The California Department of Public Health will include 10 nationalities and six languages in data collection and will leave a blank space in surveys for people to fill out additional demographic information. The agency will have five years to produce a report that includes rates for major diseases, leading causes of death, and information about pregnancy, housing, and mental health. Then, the department will begin issuing annual reports.

“Latinos and Indigenous Mesoamericans are vibrant and diverse communities, each with unique health needs,” said State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Los Angeles and the bill’s sponsor, in a public statement. “Every Latino deserves to be seen, heard, and represented in our healthcare system, especially in the data that drives resource allocation.”

Proponents of the law call this a first step in addressing health disparities, which exist in Mesoamerican indigenous communities throughout California but are not well studied. Accurate data on the population size of indigenous peoples in California is also sparse — one advocacy group, the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project, estimates there are more than 170,000 indigenous people in California who originate from Mexico alone. In Oakland, an indigenous Mayan Mam-speaking population from Guatemala has grown rapidly in recent years, and estimates for population size have ranged from 10,000 to up to 40,000, according to some news reports.

Gerardo Jeronimo, an Oakland-based certified medical interpreter for Mayan Mam, said he had seen firsthand how lumping Indigenous folks in with all Latinos can cause significant harm in health care settings, leading to misunderstandings, inconsistent care, and, in some cases, worsening health.

Jeronimo, who immigrated from Guatemala 20 years ago and speaks the Todos Santos dialect of Mayan Mam, began working as a medical interpreter nearly six years ago at Alameda Health Systems and has since branched out on his own, starting an interpreting company called El Interprete Maya. He said the new law is long overdue, and he hopes the information collected will help improve language accessibility and culturally competent care.

“The health care system is a machine,” Jeronimo said. “That’s where SB 1016 is very important because now you can kind of let the machine know, ‘By the way, I don’t speak Spanish … I don’t fit really nicely into this.’”

“We have all done so much work to get here to this very moment, and we are incredibly grateful that the Governor has signed SB1016 into law,” said Arcenio Lopez, Executive Director of MICOP, in a public statement. “This decision is a major milestone in recognizing the thriving Indigenous Mesoamerican communities in California. Our voices have been heard, and we are thrilled to see this crucial step toward data equity and justice, ensuring that the Indigenous community is fully represented and supported.”

The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, a health advocacy organization, has led the data disaggregation effort with sponsorship by Gonzalez. The duo attempted to pass a similar bill last year, which would have required two different agencies to collect data. That bill also passed with overwhelming support in both legislative chambers but was vetoed by Gov. Newsom in October 2023, who said the bill was “premature” and that the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was taking similar steps to disaggregate data.

In March of 2024, the White House announced the OMB changes to include disaggregated data by ethnicity, but the changes did not meet the level of specificity California health advocates were hoping for.

“We have the power and we can establish that legacy and that leadership by going beyond the OMB outlined changes to actually reflect the population in California,” said Seciah Aquino, Executive Director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, in an interview before Gov. Newsom signed the bill. “Given that we make up 40% of the population — over 16 million Latinos and Indigenous community members — we need that data at the detailed level to actually dig deeper into health outcomes, but also to bring success and effectiveness to many of the programs and campaigns that we have been able to advance in California.”

According to The Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, the California Department of Public Health estimates that implementation of the bill will cost the department more than $4.7 million between fiscal years 2027 to 2029 to get the research off the ground, followed by $718,000 in annual costs. However, Aquino believes that the estimate is too high, considering that the agency has already established a data disaggregation process for the state’s Asian and Pacific Islander population.

In an emailed statement, a California Department of Public Health spokesperson said the agency was “looking forward” to implementing the new law“to continue to improve the health and welfare of the people from these communities.” The department did not confirm the estimated cost when asked.

For those who work closely with indigenous communities, the potential cost is a small tradeoff for improved health care among a growing and often overlooked population.

Jeronimo, for example, said he recently worked with an indigenous patient who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021 and had been receiving complicated information regarding his diagnosis and treatment in Spanish despite Mayan Mam being his primary language. Jeronimo said the man was not aware of the type of cancer he had been diagnosed with and had not been taking his medication as prescribed because of confusion caused by the language barrier, a situation that could been avoided had the man been identified as an Indigenous Mayan Mam speaker sooner.

“By identifying the indigenous language before the health care journey begins, they’re saving everybody time, everybody emotional impact, financial impact, and socially, you create a rapport,” Jeronimo said. “You’re creating a safe place.”