Medicaid enrollees under age 65 with disabilities have a wide range of health care needs and functional limitations, including mobility and cognitive limitations, difficulty with self-care, and difficulty participating in everyday activities. Medicaid is an important source of coverage for these individuals, providing services not typically covered by Medicare or private insurers.
MACPAC’s work on the experiences of adults and children with disabilities covered by Medicaid has focused both on their experiences with accessing care to services and on how their experiences compare to those covered by private insurance and the uninsured in accessing and using health care services. Overall, MACPAC’s analyses found that within Medicaid, adults and children with disabilities and special health care needs reported more barriers to accessing needed care than those without a disability. Additionally, adults and children with disabilities are more likely to report delays in care or difficulties in getting medical appointments. For example, adults with disabilities covered by Medicaid were also more likely to report delays in getting a medical appointment and getting specialist care than those with private insurance. Children with special health care needs covered by Medicaid or CHIP were more likely than those covered by private insurance to report unmet health care needs and problems obtaining an appointment and finding a doctor who would accept their health insurance.