AHRQ Stats: Medical Care for Children

In 2014, approximately 8 percent of U.S. children younger than 18 (about 5.8 million children) were reported as not having a usual source of care. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #501: Children's Usual Source of Care: Insurance, Income, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities, 2004-2014.)

STATISTICAL BRIEF #501:
Children's Usual Source of Care: Insurance, Income,

March 2017

Naomi Zewde, PhD and Terceira Berdahl, PhD

A usual source of medical care was unavailable to 5.8 million children (7.9 percent of children ages 0-17) in 2014.
Children who were uninsured were more likely to have no usual source of care in each year between 2004 and 2014.
Children living in poor families were more likely to lack a usual source of care compared to children living in high-income families in both 2004 and 2014.
Children from high-income families were less likely than children in any other income group to lack a usual source of care in 2014.
The percentage of Hispanic children without a usual source of care declined by 4 percentage points between 2004 and 2014.