Children Without Health Insurance Get Less Care

Children in the U.S. without health insurance get much less health care than insured children, according to a new study from the national consumer group Families USA. Children uninsured for a year or longer make half the number of doctor visits as insured children and receive only 42 percent the number of in-patient hospital days, the study shows.

Youngsters in fair or poor health are especially likely to go without needed care. If such children lack health insurance, they are four times as likely to go without needed medical or surgical services than insured children with the same health status, according to the study.

"There is a large difference in the health care provided to uninsured children compared to insured children. For uninsured children, the unmistakable message is: Don't get sick," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

"The assumption that uninsured children will get the health care they need when they get sick is an unfortunate myth. To be uninsured and ill often means an inability to access timely physician, hospital, surgical, dental, and pharmaceutical services that youngsters need," Pollack said.

Based on data from the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, a federal agency, the study provides the first in-depth look at how children's access to health care is affected by long and short spells without health insurance. Information on more than 30,000 children was included in the data.

For children uninsured for a year or more, the disparity in care available to them in comparison with insured children is significant:

• Two out of five long-term uninsured children (37 percent) do not visit a doctor at all in a year compared to 16 percent of insured children;
• The average annual number of doctor visits per 1,000 children is 1,725 for long-term uninsured children compared with 3,461 for insured children;
• When long-term uninsured children do see doctors, they are twice as likely as insured children to make their doctor visits in emergency rooms;
• Long-term uninsured children average only 98 annual inpatient hospital days per 1,000 children compared to 234 annual days for insured children; and
• One out of five children who are uninsured for a year or longer (20 percent) are missing all of their current immunizations compared to 12 percent for insured children.

The study also compared the health care available to uninsured and insured children who are in fair or poor health. Data about comparative access to care for uninsured and insured children in fair or poor health are important because they eliminate potential distortions that might exist due to differences in health status. Such data are also significant because children in fair or poor health are more likely to seek care than their healthier counterparts; if they cannot get care, the consequences are more likely to be severe and irreparable.

Uninsured children in fair or poor health, compared to insured children in fair or poor health, are:

• Five times more likely not to have a regular provider of care;
• Four times more likely to need medical or surgical care and not be able to get it;
• Almost five times as likely to need dental care and be unable to get it;
• Four-and-one-half times as likely to need prescription medicines or eyeglasses and not be able to get them; and
• More than one-and-one-half times as likely to be missing all or some of their immunizations.
  

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

1201 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1100 · Washington, DC 20005
202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org