Table 4.

Average costs (Australian dollars) of health service use by children between birth and 5 years of age based on sources of funding and vulnerability classification

Costs	Vulnerable children	Non-vulnerable children	Cost ratio (95% CI)*
	Cost (mean±SD)	Cost (mean±SD)
Year 1
Out-of-pocket costs	107 (762)	252 (1229)	0.42 (0.41 to 0.43)
Public hospital funders	12 766 (23 342)	7376 (14 847)	1.73 (1.70 to 1.76)
Private health insurers	952 (4367)	1480 (4452)	0.64 (0.62 to 0.66)
Medicare	737 (876)	896 (1203)	0.82 (0.82 to 0.83)
Year 2
Out-of-pocket costs	45 (274)	101 (428)	0.44 (0.43 to 0.46)
Public hospital funders	1607 (7088)	1278 (6496)	1.26 (1.22 to 1.30)
Private health insurers	42 (543)	106 (897)	0.39 (0.34 to 0.45)
Medicare	496 (483)	534 (558)	0.93 (0.92 to 0.94)
Year 3
Out-of-pocket costs	42 (270)	93 (453)	0.46 (0.44 to 0.47)
Public hospital funders	865 (6538)	789 (5120)	1.10 (1.05 to 1.14)
Private health insurers	19 (305)	68 (536)	0.27 (0.24 to 0.32)
Medicare	339 (429)	366 (500)	0.93 (0.92 to 0.94)
Year 4
Out-of-pocket costs	31 (221)	95 (519)	0.33 (0.32 to 0.34)
Public hospital funders	510 (4306)	500 (4303)	1.02 (0.97 to 1.07)
Private health insurers	15 (226)	55 (441)	0.27 (0.23 to 0.32)
Medicare	255 (367)	337 (508)	0.76 (0.75 to 0.76)
Year 5
Out-of-pocket costs	23 (187)	81 (390)	0.28 (0.27 to 0.29)
Public hospital funders	306 (3207)	304 (2653)	1.01 (0.94 to 1.07)
Private health insurers	11 (173)	41 (420)	0.26 (0.21 to 0.31)
Medicare	190 (334)	277 (420)	0.69 (0.68 to 0.70)
Total
Out-of-pocket costs	248 (1024)	622 (1788)	0.40 (0.39 to 0.41)
Public hospital funders	16 053 (28 353)	10 247 (20 721)	1.57 (1.55 to 1.59)
Private health insurers	1037 (4495)	1750 (4806)	0.59 (0.58 to 0.61)
Medicare	2017 (1718)	2410 (2207)	0.84 (0.83 to 0.84)

*Reference group=non-vulnerable children.