The ABCs of children's health care: how the Medicaid expansions affected access, burdens, and coverage between 1987 and 1996.
The Medicaid poverty expansions were among the major health policy initiatives of the late 1980s. This paper examines changes over a nine-year period in access, burdens, and coverage among children eligible for Medicaid through the expansions. Among eligible children, the Medicaid expansions reduced rates of uninsurance, increased access to physicians, and reduced families' risk of bearing a heavy financial burden. Gaps remain, however, and expansion-eligible children are more likely than never-eligible children to have been uninsured, to have gone without a physician office visit, and to have lived in a family that spent at least 20% of family income on medical care.
D000293:Adolescent; D000385:Aid to Families with Dependent Children / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004608:Eligibility Determination / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D005249:Fees and Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000639:trends*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty; D014481:United States