Acculturation, God’s will, and Health Insurance.

Alejandro was born in a remote area of the state of Guerrero, Mexico, known as Tlacotepec in the province of Tierra Caliente. The area is well known for its natural beauty as well as for its lack of opportunities. Life back then, according to Alejandro, was not too complicated; the poor economy and the distance between Tlacotepec and any major city made life go by very slowly. Alejandro fondly remembers growing up looking at the mountains from his humble house. The mountains surrounding Tlacotepec create a cradle for the people who live there, but also isolate them from other communities. Farming has been the only activity that people from Tlacotepec can do in order to survive, an activity that Alejandro has been doing ever since he can remember. The lack of opportunities made Alejandro migrate to the United States.

During his time in the U.S. Alejandro held many different jobs, many of them under tough circumstances such as extreme heat. As he noted, “I was a farmer and was used to the extreme heat of the sun,” and so Alejandro became the favorite worker of a contractor in Texas. He was treated very well by his boss but not by the boss’s sons who constantly chastised him. He decided to leave and look for a better place. He moved to the city of Garland, Texas, where he worked for American contractors as well as Mexicans. He recalls that discrimination was prominent from both sides, but mostly from other Mexican immigrants, who, according to him, felt compelled to be mean because people were mean to them. Over time, as he learned how to fix roofs he played close attention to details and quickly became an expert in roofing. His skills and ability to learn quickly made his employers see him as a valuable human resource. Roofing is particularly dangerous work. While doing this interview I felt compelled to get on the roof with Alejandro to see firsthand the job they do on a regular basis. I was impressed by how he goes up and down using a wobbly ladder, carrying large, heavy sacks of material to fix the roof. Alejandro and his crew do not have any kind of health insurance and are always living on the edge of society. When I asked Alejandro what he does when he gets sick he jokingly said: “I just don’t pay attention to it” as if the disease was a separate entity, some kind of spirit that comes to bother him for a while and as if by ignoring it, it would go away. In a more serious tone Alejandro said that he plans to go to Mexico to visit his family and have a physical examination. Perhaps he does not trust doctors in the United States or he just cannot afford a doctor’s visit here.

Mexican immigrants like Alejandro are not easily acculturated into buying health insurance; they would rather go through the painful process of leaving the country and entering again illegally. Currently, the coyote’s fee to re-enter the country is more than 2,000 dollars, money that he could use to pay health insurance, but he sees the opportunity to visit his family as a bonus. The idea of God is an important one, Alejandro considers that everything is in God’s will, and that He will protect him from illness. For marketers, the acknowledgment of these beliefs is crucial; the difference inside the Hispanic community particularly in the Mexican Diaspora poses a challenge for marketers.

By Leon Garcia
Student
Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication
Florida State University