Medicaid Benefits Mainly the Younger and Less Sick

A ten-year study of a cohort of welfare cases in New York City investigated the impact of Medicaid on access to medical care and utilization patterns. Five waves of home interviews were conducted, three before and two after Medicaid. In the original 1,681 families, 346 respondents died by the last interview wave; but more than three-quarters of those living were interviewed after Medicaid. This paper reports on the 729 respondents interviewed in full on each wave. Use of services, health status, and attitudes to care were compared for a two-year period pre-Medicaid (within 1961-64) and a two-year period post-Medicaid (within 1968-71). The old and very sick (Old Age Assistance and Aid to Disabled welfare categories) actually received less care post-Medicaid, despite being seven years older. Under the previous welfare medical care system, whatever its imperfections of quality or acceptability, they apparently had ready access to a doctor and made many visits. Few untreated conditions could be found. Medicaid seems to have benefited most the younger and less sick members of this panel of low-income families. The proportion seeing a doctor rose post-Medicaid, and the average visits per patient increased

Cohort · Cohort study · Family medicine · Health care · Medicaid · Medical care · Welfare · Demography · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Gerontology

• Use of Health Services by Baltimore Medicaid Recipients

  David L Rabin, Thomas W Bice et al.•Medical Care•1974

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• The Significance of Welfare Status in the Care of Indigent Patients

  Margaret Olendzki, Charles H Goodrich et al.•American Journal of Public Health…•1963

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• The Impact of Medicaid on Private Care for the Urban Poor

  Margaret C Olendzki, Margaret Olendzki et al.•Medical Care•1972

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• Welfare Medical Care

  John B Mckinlay, Charles H Goodrich et al.•Journal of Health and Social…•1971

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