Utilization of Health Services by Poor Children Since Advent of Medicaid

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Abstract
Many sources of data confirm that utilization of health services by poor children has increased since the advent of Medicaid in 1966. Poor children make approximately the same number of visits to medical providers each year as do non-poor children. Considering the greater need for services among poor children, few suggest that their full need is met. Available data are not entirely adequate to document how or where the increased utilization has occurred. The Medicaid legislation appeared to presume that poor children would be “mainstreamed” into the same provider systems that are used by the non-poor. Data from national and local surveys are cited in support of the possibility that Medicaid has in fact had a paradoxical effect, proportionately increasing publicly sponsored provider systems, and proportionately decreasing poor children's utilization of private medical providers.

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