Study: Poor Kids Likelier to Get Antipsychotics
December 13, 2009
“Research suggests many kids get powerful drugs they do not need,” says Duff Wilson of the New York Times.
Below are excerpts from his article that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on 12/12/09.
“New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: Children covered by Medicaid are given powerful anti-psychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. Finding from a Rutgers and Columbia team is almost certain to add fuel to a long-running debate. Do too many children from poor families receive powerful psychiatric drugs not because they actually need them, but because it is deemed the most efficient and cost effective way to control problems that may be handled much differently for middle-class children?
Part of the reason is insurance reimbursements. Medicaid often pays much less for counseling and therapy than private insureers do. Families who are financially challenged are less likely to attend these sessions than their counter-part even when such sessions are available.”
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