Table 1.

Characteristics of Medicaid-enrolled children, by new onset of sheltered homelessness (N=165,821)

	Homeless Group (N=3,011)		Non-homeless Group (N=162,810)

Characteristic	N	%	N	%
Gender
Male	1,524	50.7	83	51.2
Female	1,487	49.4	79	48.8
Race/Ethnicity^***	0
Black	2,689	89.4	109	67.4
White	111	3.7	19	11.9
Hispanic	163	5.4	24	14.8
Other	48	1.6	9	5.9
Age in 2002 (mean ± SD)^***	7.5 ± 4.1		8.6 ± 4.4
Under 6	1,147	38.1	47,703	29.3
6–11 years	1,244	41.3	64	29.3
12–16 years	620	20.6	50	39.7
Eligibility status^***^a
TANF	2,523	83.9	112	68.9
GA	48	1.6	3,256	2.0
SSI	84	2.8	6,838	4.2
Other	355	11.8	40,703	25.0
Has History of Foster care ^***	449	14.9	14,327	8.8
Inpatient psychiatric treatment^**	154	5.1	6,350	3.9
Days of inpatient care (group mean^b)^**	3.0		4.9
Cost for inpatient care (group mean^b)	$1,205		$1,370
Days of inpatient care (user mean^c)^***	85		130
Cost for inpatient care (user mean^c)^*	$23,723		$34,811
Ambulatory psychiatric treatment^***	26.8		21.8
No. of ambulatory visit (group mean^b)	17.4		15.5
Cost for ambulatory visit (group mean^b)^*	$1,551		$1,286
No. of ambulatory visit (user mean^c)	62.3		68.7
Cost for ambulatory visit (user mean^c)	$5,724		$5,846

^***

p<.001,

^**

p<.01,

p<.05

TANF, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families; GA, General Assistance; SSI, Supplemental Security Income

group mean, a mean value for the group, was based on the total number of days of inpatient care, total number of ambulatory visit and total costs for care divided by the total number of subjects in each group of the sample.

user mean, a mean value for per user, was calculated for study subjects who received services during the study period.