Three Independent Evaluations of Healthy Kids Programs Find Dramatic Gains in Well-Being of Children and Families

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

No. 1 in the In Brief series from Mathematica, University of California-San Francisco, and the Urban Institute. The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full paper in PDF format.

Abstract

This brief presents highlights from rigorous, independent evaluations of the Healthy Kids programs in three California counties, Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. The three Healthy Kids programs provide children with comprehensive health insurance coverage. Children are eligible for Healthy Kids if they are ineligible for California's two major state insurance programs, Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, and live in families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties, and 400 percent of the FPL in San Mateo County. This brief describes some of the many positive impacts that Healthy Kids programs have had on children, including improvements in their access to and use of medical services and reductions in their unmet need for care.

Introduction

Impact of Healthy Kids on Participating Children and Families

Impact of Healthy Kids on Participating Children and Families Healthy Kids programs ensure high quality care for children who would otherwise lack access to affordable health insurance coverage. Three of the largest programs—in Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties—currently provide coverage to about 60,000 children living in widely varying communities in California. Before enrolling in Healthy Kids, few of these children had coverage for basic outpatient services, such as preventive and primary care, specialty dental care, or prescription medications. Moreover, many of these children never had any health insurance coverage, placing them at long-term risk for poor health care access and limited use of key services, such as preventive care.

Three ongoing, independent evaluations of the Healthy Kids programs in Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties find overwhelming evidence that the programs improved medical care access and use among children who participated, which, in turn, improved the well-being of both the children and their families.

Access to Health Care Improves

Access to health care is fundamental to ensuring that children remain healthy and avoid unnecessary or prolonged illnesses, excess morbidity and missed school days. Two basic indicators of whether children have good health care access are (1) whether they have a usual source for health care, such as a local clinic or private doctor’s office; and (2) whether they have had a recent medical visit.

Across all three Healthy Kids programs, children enrolled in Healthy Kids experienced dramatic improvements in both of these indicators when compared to similar children without Healthy Kids coverage. The proportion of children having a usual source of care was significantly higher with Healthy Kids, reaching about 90 percent in each county. Likewise, the proportion of children having a medical visit in the past six months was significantly higher among Healthy Kids enrollees, reaching 54 to 76 percent depending on the county. For example, in Santa Clara County, the proportion of children with a medical visit rose from 32 percent without Healthy Kids to 54 percent with Healthy Kids. This increase in visits is evident for all types of services examined—including preventive care, sick-child visits, and visits to specialists.

(End of excerpt. The entire paper is available in PDF format.)

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Disclaimer: The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.