published, and trademarked by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 141 Northwest Point

ABSTRACT. Objective. To quantify the number of children who experience gaps in insurance coverage and to determine whether vulnerable subgroups of children experience noteworthy lapses in insurance coverage. Methods. We analyzed nationally representative data from 24 149 children sampled in the 1999–2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey linked to the 1997–1999 National Health Interview Survey. Vulnerable subgroups of chil-dren included children with chronic conditions, those from ethnic/racial minorities, and those living in poverty. On the basis of cumulative annual monthly insurance coverage status, each child fell into 1 of 3 groups: continuous cover-age, uninsured, or gaps in coverage. Using SAS-callable SUDAAN, we conducted multivariate ordinal logistic re-gressionmodel to quantify the likelihood of having gaps i