The impact of insurance coverage on children's dental visits and expenditures, 1996

Background. Health insurance coverage has been shown to relate positively w ith the use of dental services. The purpose of the authors' study was to de scribe the level of dental coverage among U.S. children and to assess the i mpact of dental coverage on children's use of dental services and expenditu res for dental care. Methods. The focus of these analyses is use and expendion dental care cover age, use and expenditures for U.S. children during 1996. National estimates are provided for the population with dental coverage, the population with a dental visit, and mean total expenditure for each of several socioeconomi c and demographic categories during 1996 using data from the medical Expend iture Panel Survey. Results. Fifty-two percent of children younger than 18 years of age had pri vate dental coverage during 1996. Approximately 56 percent of children in f amilies with a poverty status level of 133 percent of federal poverty level or below were covered by Medicaid during 1996. Fifty-six percent of childr en with private coverage had made at least one dental visit, compared 28 pe rcent of noncovered children. Twenty-eight percent of children covered by M edicaid had made at least one dental visit compared with 19 percent of nonc overed children. Conclusion. Medicaid dental coverage seems to have had a lesser effect on t he likelihood of a child's having a dental visit than had private coverage. Improving oral health for poorer children may depend partly on improving t he design of Medicaid dental coverage programs. Practice Implications. By understanding these analyses, practitioners, advo cates and policymakers will be better positioned to provide care, improve a ccess and better meet the needs of all American children.