This is the final report of a project entitled "Analysis of Traffic Injuries in Medicaid Data." The aim of the project was to investigate the Medicaid claims data to determine the number and cost of Medicaid claims resulting from traffic accident injuries in the State of Michigan. The Medicaid Inpatient General Hospital Claims data from 1980 and 1981 were used to determine the number and costs of Medicaid claims resulting from traffic accidents. There were 401 such claims identified in the 1980 data and 298 in the 1981 data. These resulted in Medicaid charges of 1.1 million dollars in 1980 and one million dollars in 1981. The State of Michigan pays forty-nine percent of these costs from state tax revenues (the federal government pays the balance from federal tax revenues). The direct cost to the State of Michigan for Medicaid hospital claims was $545,000 in 1980 and $508,000 in 1981. The average cost per claim was $2770 in 1980 and $3480 in 1981, corresponding to average hospitalizations of 8.9 and 10.2 days, respectively. Medicaid hospital claims resulting from traffic accidents represent a very small part of medicaid hospital expenditures, approximately 0.32 percent. Medicaid also pays only a small part of the medical costs from traffic accident injuries. Michigan's legislature, particularly through the no-fault automobile insurance law, has determined that medical costs from traffic accidents will primarily be paid from private insurance (auto or health). The intent to have the public pay for medical costs of traffic accidents through private auto or health insurance seems to have been largely accomplished.
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