Children covered by Medicaid or CHIP visit the emergency department (ED) more frequently than both those with private insurance and those who are uninsured, but reasons for the visit differed among population groups. When asked about their child’s last visit to the ED, respondents for children who had Medicaid or CHIP were more likely than those with private coverage to report that their usual medical provider was not open or that they did not have another place to obtain care. But respondents for certain categories of privately insured children were more likely to report they last visited the ED because the family’s medical provider told them to go or that the condition was too serious for the provider to treat.
This issue brief provides results using the National Health Interview Survey and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey. The survey questions on the use emergency departments that we used for our analyses are no longer included in these surveys. Therefore, this issue brief will not be updated with more recent years of data.