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Utilization of children's health services in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has declined steeply during the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed in a September 23 news release.
"Because preventative and routine healthcare is crucial to ensuring that children stay healthy, CMS is releasing this preliminary data to raise awareness of the vital services Medicaid and CHIP provides, and is calling on stakeholders to take action to make services more readily available so that we can begin closing the gap in care for children," CMS said.
Between March and May of this year, there were 22% fewer (1.7 million) vaccinations of children up to age 2 years covered by these programs than there were during the same period in 2019, the agency noted.
There were 44% fewer (3.2 million) child screening services provided and 69% fewer (7.6 million) dental services provided. According to a CMS report on the underlying data, 44% fewer (6.9 million) mental health services were provided to the children in Medicaid and CHIP.
Together, the two programs cover about 40 million children, including 75% of those in poverty and 4 in 10 children with special needs, CMS said.
