Children with Medicaid or CHIP are disproportionately affected by behavioral health disorders and are more likely to see a mental health professional or a general doctor for an emotional or behavioral problem than their privately insured counterparts. Children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP were also prescribed medication for mental difficulties at a higher rate than privately insured children of the same household income level.
This issue brief provides results using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS-HC). Many of the survey questions on mental health services for children are no longer included in NHIS and MEPS-HC, so this issue brief will not be updated with more recent years of data. More up-to-date estimates of access to behavioral health services for children and adolescents were published in the June 2021 Report to Congress on Medicaid CHIP: Access to Behavioral Health Services for Children and Adolescents Covered by Medicaid and CHIP.