Dental Care Access and Use for Children Ineligible for Medicaid and SCHIP

Research Aim: This research reviews dental care access and use among children enrolled in a public insurance program in San Mateo County, California called “Healthy Kids.”

Research Design: Data presented were collected from household surveys conducted in San Mateo as part of a comprehensive evaluation of the Children's Health Initiatives.

Study Population: The study population is children aged 4-18 years who are enrolled in the Healthy Kids program. These children are predominantly low-income, Latino, undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP. Two groups of children were sampled in each county: “established enrollees” who had been enrolled for roughly one year and “recent enrollee” children who were selected for the sample at the time of enrollment. The established enrollee sample serves as the treatment group for the study by providing a measure of access to and use of dental services in their most recent six months in the program. The recent enrollee samples serve as the comparison group for the studies.

Findings: Enrollment in Healthy Kids substantially improved access to and use of dental services. For example, without Healthy Kids, only 42 percent of (sampled?) children had a usual source of dental care; with Healthy Kids, this percentage more than doubled to 87 percent. Use of preventive dental care in San Mateo County also rose from 25 percent to 65 percent. Unmet need for dental care significantly dropped from 22 percent without Healthy Kids to 11 percent with Healthy Kids.