$14,772, respectively. In a report published one year later, Amendah et al (2010) estimated that medical costs for children due to SCD were $9,369 and $13,469 for Medicaid vs. private insurance, respectively. Though the numbers lowered in the second report, the margins at which each shared the cost were nearly the same. Reinhardt (2006) offers an explanation for the disparity, noting that the lower expenditures actually reflect lower payments or reimbursements by Medicaid programs to providers and cost shifting to other payers. Notably, both reports found that Medicaid patients had higher utilization of the emergency room in accordance with the Ellison and Matthie studies, even though they had lower …show more content…
In 2003, of the 20,000 hospitalizations for children with SCD, over 16,000 of them were for vaso-occlusive painful events (Whalen, 2006). Pain episodes often require medications such as opioids for pain relief. Because they are prescribed pain medications from a very young age, Wilson et al (2015) note that many SCD patients are perceived as drug seekers once they enter the emergency department due to assumed addiction. In a study conducted by Porter et al (2012), they found that 63% of nurses working with pediatric patients believed addiction was a factor, and 30% were reluctant to administer a high dose of pain