Affiliations: Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC,
USA | Social Security Administration, Office of Retirement
and Disability Policy, Office of Program Development and Research, Baltimore,
MD, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Jeffrey Hemmeter, Social Security
Administration, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, Office of Program
Development and Research, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235, USA.
Tel.: +1 410 597 1815; E-mail: jeffrey.hemmeter@ssa.gov
Abstract: Children with disabilities may have substantial health care needs
due to their physical, mental, or emotional impairments. For many, taking care
of these needs is critical to prevent further deterioration in their health and
to promote the successful transition to life as an adult. In this paper we
examine the unmet health care needs and medical out-of-pocket (MOOP) expenses
for a subgroup of children with disabilities – those collecting Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) payments. Using the National Survey of SSI Children and
Families (NSCF), we find that: (1) only 9 percent of SSI children report
delaying or going without health care in the year before the interview and 24
percent report MOOP expenses; (2) Medicaid insurance reduces both the incidence
of unmet needs and MOOP expenses for SSI children; (3) those with an unmet need
have higher MOOP expenses and receive lower SSI payments; and (4) the vast
majority of MOOP expenses are substantially less than SSI payments for most
child recipients. In total, this research shows fairly good coverage of the
medical needs and expenses of SSI youth before they transition to
adulthood.
Keywords: Children, Supplemental Security Income, medical out-of-pocket expenditures, unmet needs
