AHRQ Stats: Differences in Insurance Payments for Child Visits to Physicians

In 2015, payments for child visits to a physician’s office averaged $88 higher when covered by private insurance compared with visits covered by Medicaid. (Source: AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #504: Differences in Payments for Child Visits to Office-Based Physicians: Private versus Medicaid Insurance, 2010 to 2015.)

STATISTICAL BRIEF #504:
Differences in Payments for Child Visits to

Office-Based Physicians: Private versus Medicaid Insurance,

2010 to 2015

August 2017

Pradip Muhuri, PhD and Steven Machlin, MS

Highlights

In 2015, mean total payments per child visit to office-based physicians were $88 higher for visits covered by private insurance than for those covered by Medicaid. This gap has been fairly stable since 2010.
In 2014-15, mean total payments per child visit to office-based physicians were higher for privately insured than Medicaid covered visits across Census regions and physician specialties.
In 2014-15, the magnitude of the payment gap between Medicaid-covered and privately insured child visits to office-based physicians did not vary significantly by Census region.
In 2014-15, although the payment gap between privately insured and Medicaid covered child visits did not vary significantly between most physician specialties, the gap was larger for visits to orthopedists than for visits to primary care physicians.