Health-related unmet needs of supplemental security income youth after the age-18 redetermination.

OBJECTIVE: Young adults who exit Supplemental Security Income (SSI) after their age-18 eligibility redetermination may have greater health-related unmet needs than those who remain on SSI. The objective of this paper is to determine the magnitude and causes of this gap. DATA SOURCES: Uses the 2001-2002 National Survey of SSI Children and Families, a nationally representative survey of SSI youth. STUDY
DESIGN: Self-reported unmet medical, dental, and prescription drug needs of 869 individuals ages 19-23 who have had their SSI eligibility redetermined are compared. In addition to raw differences in unmet needs, logistic regressions are used to determine the sources of these differences. PRINCIPAL
FINDINGS: Young adults who exit SSI are almost twice as likely to have health-related unmet needs subsequent to their exit as those who remain on SSI after the age-18 redetermination. Access to care, particularly insurance coverage (either Medicaid or non-Medicaid), accounts for much of the difference between these two groups; measures of health status do not explain much of the difference.
CONCLUSION: Policies addressing access to health care are likely to be more successful in addressing unmet needs than policies focused on disability-specific issues in health for youth who lose access to SSI after their age-18 redetermination. © Health Research and Educational Trust.