BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The second national survey by the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economic Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI) found that there has been little improvement in health insurance coverage for Hispanic women but some progress for Hispanic men since the 2013 Current Population Survey.

The FAU BEPI survey found that 21.5 percent of women are without insurance compared to 22.6 percent in the Current Population Survey, whereas for Hispanic men, one in 10 (9.8 percent) are without healthcare insurance in contrast to the
Current Population Survey which finds that one in four (26 percent) Hispanic men did not have health insurance. This is corroborated by the number of men who find it easier to afford health care in our survey (19.6 percent) while only 10.2 percent of women find healthcare more affordable.

"Possible explanations for the gender difference in healthcare coverage and affordability can be that women on average have lower incomes than men so they have a harder time paying for health care costs," said Monica Escaleras, director of FAU BEPI.

The FAU survey sample included 529 Hispanics across the nation with a margin of error of 4.2 percent.

Nearly three out of four (74 percent) Hispanics think the criminal justice system is not fair. Registered Republican Hispanic voters think the justice system is more equal (45 percent to 55 percent), a slim majority, than
registered Democrat Hispanic voters (24 percent to 76 percent). Hispanics voters registered as Independents find the system unjust (31 percent to 69 percent).

While Hispanic consumer confidence is still lower than the Thomson Reuters University of Michigan National average, September saw a significant increase from August of 8.1 points (68.3 to 76.4). A possible connection to these results could be the 1 percent drop of the unemployment rate in the month of September (from 7.5 percent to 6.5 percent) as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

*Thomson Reuters University of Michigan poll release

Additional information can be accessed at www.business.fau.edu/bepi or by contacting Monica Escaleras at 561-297-1312 or [email protected].