In fiscal year 2011 nearly 1 million children were eligible for Medicaid based on their receipt of child welfare assistance. While the population is small relative to the rest of the Medicaid program—accounting for less than 1 percent of all Medicaid enrollees and about 3 percent of children enrolled on a basis other than disability—their complex health needs, which are often the result of trauma and maltreatment, require an array of specialized services.
Chapter 3 provides background on the child welfare system and the children it serves and describes Medicaid’s role in serving neglected and abused children. It concludes with a discussion of selected Medicaid policy issues relevant for child welfare-involved youth.
From: June 2015 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP