Medical and dental care utilization and expenditures under Medicaid and private health insurance.
Data from the 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey were used to conduct a disaggregated comparison of utilization and expenditures under Medicaid and private health insurance for low-income adults and children. After adjustment for health status and other factors, Medicaid adults and children had greater use of prescription drugs than the privately insured, but there were no significant differences in prescription expenditures. Adults on Medicaid had lower utilization of office-based medical and dental care and much lower expenditures than the privately insured. Contrary to stereotypes, there were no significant differences between Medicaid adults and children and the privately insured in emergency, outpatient, or inpatient hospital use, and the former had significantly lower expenditures.
Ku
Leighton
L
Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20006, USA. leighton.ku@gwumc.edu
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017149:Private Sector; D014481:United States