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Early Childhood Profile

OverviewHealth and NutritionEarly Care and Education

State Choices to Promote Access

  • 44 states set the income eligibility limit for public health insurance (Medicaid/SCHIP) at or above 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) for children ages birth to 5. [2009]1
  • 23 states set the income eligibility limit for public health insurance (Medicaid/SCHIP) at or above 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) for pregnant women. [2009]1
  • 11 states set the income eligibility limit for public health insurance (Medicaid/SCHIP) at or above 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) for working parents. [2009]1
  • 33 states provide temporary coverage to pregnant women under Medicaid until eligibility can be formally determined. [2009]1
  • 13 states provide temporary coverage to children under Medicaid or SCHIP until eligibility can be formally determined. [2009]1
  • 6 states include at-risk children in the definition of eligibility for IDEA Part C. [2006]2
  • 9 states supplement WIC funding. [2006]3
Young children who lack health insurance, 2007

Young children who lack health insurance, 20074

Medicaid births as a percentage of total births, 2002

Medicaid births as a percentage of total births, 20025

Young children, ages 3-5 years, on Medicaid receiving at least one EPSDT* screen in a 12-month period, 2006

Young children, ages 3-5 years, on Medicaid receiving at least one EPSDT* screen in a 12-month period, 20066

State Choices to Promote Quality

  • 10 states meet the national benchmark that 80% of children on Medicaid receive an annual health screening under EPSDT*. [2007]7
  • 34 states require newborn screening for hearing deficiencies. [2008]8
  • 34 states require newborn screening for the 28 metabolic deficiencies/disorders recommended by the March of Dimes. [2008]8
  • 4 states use the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Development Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0-3) when seeking Medicaid reimbursement. [2006]9
OverviewEarly Care and Education

Data Notes and Sources

Last Updated: June 16, 2009

Send us recent developments to update your state's profile.

  1. Donna Cohen Ross and Caryn Marks, Challenges of Providing Health Coverage of Children and Parents in a Recession: A 50-State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2009, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, January 2009 http://www.kff.org (accessed February 16, 2009).
  2. Jo Schackelford, State and Jurisdictional Eligibility Definitions for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities under IDEA, NECTAC Notes, Issue No. 21, July, 2006.
  3. U.S.D.A., Food and Nutrition Services, Data reflect state appropriations for State Fiscal Years 2001 and 2006, personal email (received April 25, 2006).
  4. State data were calculated from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (the March supplement) of the Current Population Survey from 2006, 2007, and 2008, representing information from calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007. NCCP averaged three years of data because of small sample sizes in less populated states. The national data were calculated from the 2008 data, representing information from the previous calendar year.
  5. Data from some states includes the Medicaid wiaver expansion population.
    National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Health Division, Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Update 2005: States Make Modest Expansions to Health Care Coverage, 2006.
  6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, EPSDT CMS-416 Data, FY 2007, updated on July, 1, 2008
  7. Data reflect the most recent information reported by the states: 20002 for ME; 2003 for WV; 2004 for MS; 2005 for IA, VT, and KY; 2007 for all other states.
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, EPSDT CMS-416 Data, FY 2007, updated on July, 1, 2008
  8. National Newborn Screening and Genetics Resource Center, National Newborn Screening Status Report, updated July 30, 2008 http://genes-r-us.uthscsa.edu (accessed August 2008).
  9. Ngozi Onunaku, Zero to Three, personal email (received February 6, 2006).