Ninety-four percent of Latino children in California--who make up roughly half of all children in the Golden State--were born in the United States and many of them are without health insurance, stated a study that was recently released.

The data will likely have policy implications during the next legislative session, when health coverage for undocumented residents will be addressed and debated.

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health commissioned the study, which was conducted by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative based at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. The research looked at the population of 4.7 million Latino children in California, and it was revealed that half of the children in California, approximately 51.2 percent, are Latino.

Although 94 percent of Latino youth in Califonia are U.S. citizens, 370,000 of those children remain uninsured, despite eligibility for government-funded programs. This is due to the fact that 25 percent of Spanish-speaking households in California are deemed "linguistically isolated," with no one over the age of 14 to communicate in English on the family's behalf. In addition, 58 percent of those in linguistically isolated households frequent community or government clinic or a community hospital as a source for care. Many don't know that they are eligible for services, because many of these families "are living in the shadows."

"From a policy perspective, the majority of the kids are U.S. citizens," said Claire Brindis, director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the UC-San Francisco School of Medicine, in a press release. "The take-home message is, whether or not you agree with services for the undocumented, that is a separate issue. There should be a firewall between that and doing something for the Latino children in the state."

Providing services to children in need should be vital for state policymakers, Brindis insisted.

For those who know that they're eligible, many fear using health care services because, as children of immigrants, they are in "mixed immigration status families." They're afraid that they will get their families in trouble.

"They were born here, they're here," Brindis said. "And they're going to take care of you and me when we're old. Punishing the children for immigration status in their family, to me, is really immoral."