Private dental and prescription-drug coverage in children: data from the medical expenditure panel survey.
OBJECTIVE
Most studies on health insurance have examined primarily basic medical insurance coverage; few have looked at supplemental insurance and/or dental-insurance coverage. Prescription-drug and dental-insurance coverage are becoming increasingly important due to continued increase in health care costs and changes in cost-sharing structure of health plans. This study examined prescription-drug coverage and dental-insurance coverage in the context of overall insurance coverage.


METHODS
This study utilized the Household Component File from the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a national survey on medical care conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed to provide estimates on children's prescription-drug and dental-insurance coverage. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify demographic and socioeconomic factors that influence coverage.


RESULTS
In 2000, 68.5% of US children had private insurance, 22.2% had public insurance, and 9.3% were uninsured. Among children with private insurance, only 56.9% had dental-insurance coverage and 76.3% had prescription-drug coverage. Family income level, maternal education, and race were significant predictors of dental insurance and prescription-drug coverage.


CONCLUSIONS
Although significant strides have been made to insure US children, a large percentage of children still do not have comprehensive coverage. Even among privately insured children, many are without dental or prescription-drug coverage. Those who were poor, minority, and with low maternal education had lower likelihood of dental and prescription-drug coverage.
Chen
Alex Y
AY
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA. achen@chla.usc.edu
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors