Medicaid and the Health of Children

Abstract

The Medicaid program has evolved and expanded since its inception in 1965, providing health insurance coverage for ever-increasing numbers of children living in poverty. During the first 35 years of Medicaid, the program has expanded coverage to include preventive services for children, expanded eligibility criteria to include uninsured children not receiving welfare. The Medicaid program has encouraged innovation in the form of managed care and primary care case management. Most recently, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has given States freedom in providing more children with coverage. Medicaid has had a powerful influence on the health of the Nation's children. Because of Medicaid coverage, fewer children die, and children have less severe illnesses, fewer hospitalizations, fewer emergency department visits, more preventive care, and more immunizations than they would have had they not been insured.