WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5, 2005 (HealthDayNews) -- Children with special health-care needs have health-care costs three times greater than other children, says a study in the January issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The study defined children with special health-care needs (CSHCN) as, "those children who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition, and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally."
Researchers analyzed data on 6,965 children under age 18 from the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Of those children, 949 (15.6 percent) were identified as CSHCN.
The study found the average health-care cost for each CSHCN in 2000 was $2,099, compared with $628 for a child with no special health-care needs. CSHCN accounted for 42.1 percent of total medical-care costs and 33.6 percent of total health-care costs, including dental.
CSHCN had more than twice the number of trips to the doctor than other children. Average annual out-of-pocket health costs for CSHCN was $352, compared with $174 for other children. The average annual cost of prescription medications was 10 times more for CSHCN than other children -- $340 vs. $34.
"Our results show that CSHCN use many more services and have significantly higher health-care expenses than other children. Health policy changes that would extend the breadth and depth of insurance coverage are needed to ensure that all families of CSHCN are protected against burdensome expenses," the study authors wrote.
They estimated there are 11 million CSHCN in the United States.
More information
The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics has more about child health.
