Health status and utilization: differences by Medicaid coverage and income.

By several measures of health status, the Medicaid population is in worse health than are persons without Medicaid. In addition, poor persons without Medicaid coverage are in poorer health than those who are not poor. Use of health services among those in poor health shows Medicaid eligibles use services at a level comparable to those who are not poor and without Medicaid. Among the poor without Medicaid, the reduced likelihood of seeing a physician and purchasing a prescribed drug indicates the importance of Medicaid coverage in obtaining access to care.