Minority Child Medicaid Beneficiaries With Autism Receive Fewer Autism-Related Services Than White Children

Child Medicaid beneficiaries ages 3 to 17 diagnosed with autism and classified as Black, Asian, or Native American/Pacific Islanders received fewer Medicaid outpatient autism services during 2012 compared with white children. There was no disparity in service receipt between Latinx children and white children. Black children had utilization rates for outpatient autism services about 5.2 percentage points lower than utilization for white children. Among Asian children, utilization of outpatient autism services was 2.6 percentage points lower than for white children. Among Native American/Pacific Islander children, outpatient utilization was 3.7 percentage points lower than white children . . .