Early Childhood
A child’s brain develops most rapidly in the earliest years of life, building the foundation for learning, behavior and health. Medicaid, along with CHIP, serves four out of five young children in low-income families, serving as a logical place to reach these children and their families before kindergarten. Prioritizing young children and their families in Medicaid through cross-sector, innovative practice change has the potential to improve their lifetime trajectories, overall population health and long-run savings. Through blog posts, papers, and resources, CCF seeks to highlight ways Medicaid can do more to set our nation’s youngest children on a path of healthy physical, social, and emotional development.
Decline in Routine Childhood Vaccinations Puts Children, Families and Communities at Risk of Outbreak
In May 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that provider orders for non-influenza childhood vaccines through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program had decreased by a total of about 11.7 million doses during the COVID-19 pandemic. These numbers are shockingly high, but likely underestimate the total number of missed doses. (The […]
Urgent Action Needed to Catch Up on Routine Childhood Vaccinations
Introduction Vaccines are a safe and effective method of reducing the burden of infectious disease. On an individual level, they prevent severe illness, death, and long-term consequences of disease such as neurological disorders. On the community level, they forestall dangerous outbreaks of infectious disease and save money that would otherwise be spent on treating preventable […]
California’s Medicaid Breakthrough: An Opportunity to Advance Children’s Social and Emotional Health
By Sarah Crow and Christina Altmayer Revamping Medicaid policies to improve young children’s social and emotional health and address health care inequities is particularly critical in California, where over half of children ages 0 to 5 have Medicaid coverage (known as Medi-Cal, in California), and two-thirds are children of color. California ranks near the bottom […]
Limited Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Extensions are a Missed Opportunity
States are continuing to push for extending Medicaid coverage for postpartum women beyond the current federal cutoff of 60 days after the end of their pregnancy. Just in the last month, three more states submitted waiver applications to CMS: Indiana, Georgia, and Texas. Before the end of the year, we submitted comments on Indiana’s limited […]
Survey Shows Single-Parent Households with Young Children Bear the Brunt of COVID-Related Stress
COVID-19 is affecting every part of family life, and for parents of young children the financial strain, emotional stress, and burden of care are especially overwhelming. We know that the emotional wellbeing of parents affects their children’s development, especially in the early years of life. In a recent report of a weekly survey to about […]
State Leaders Advance Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Policy, Part 2
Four years after launching ZERO TO THREE’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP), we have learned a lot about opportunities to advance infant and early childhood mental health policies, even amidst a tough political climate and funding limitations. In an effort to highlight the remarkable accomplishments of IECMH-FPP states, we recently […]