Publications

Californians speak a multitude of languages. In 2000, California ranked first in the U.S. in percent of the population speaking English less than “very well”. With 20% of the general population and 25% of school-age children of limited English proficiency, concerns are rising that many Californians may not be receiving optimal health care. This brief explores policy options for encouraging and measuring second-language competence among our medical practitioners. In developing education and certification programs to better equip California’s health care workers with linguistic skills, policy makers will have to struggle with the challenge of setting standards high enough to meet Californians’ needs while not so high that training time and costs are unreasonable.