December 15, 2011

Health Care Expenditures for the Five Most Common Children's Conditions, 2008: Estimates for U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Children, Ages 0-17

In December 2011, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published the statistical brief with data from Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) on health care expenditures for the five most common children’s conditions for U.S. civilian non-institutionalized children between ages 0 to 17 years. The report included acute bronchitis, asthma, trauma-related disorders, otitis media, and mental disorders as the five most commonly treated conditions. These conditions were determined by totaling the number of children who had expenses for care associated with each condition in 2008 and ranking them. According to the report, while bronchitis and asthma were the most widely reported children’s condition in 2008 with expenses of 11.9 million and 11.7 million respectively, average expenditure on mental disorders per child with expenses was the highest at $2,483. Out of a total of $114.5 billion spent on all conditions for children in 2008, $32.9 billion was spent on the five most commonly treated conditions.