Medicaid

Young children covered by Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, are three times more likely to have high levels of lead in their blood than are other children. GAO estimates that more than half a million Medicaid children have harmful levels of lead in their blood. Despite federal screening requirements, most Medicaid children have not been checked for high lead levels, a condition that can cause learning disabilities, brain damage, and even death.

GAO noted that: (1) its analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data shows that lead toxicity is a significant problem for children receiving care under Medicaid; (2) these children were more than three times as likely to have high levels of lead in their blood as were children not receiving care under Medicaid; (3) GAO estimates that more than half a million Medicaid children--about 1 in every 12 children aged 1 through 5 in the program--have harmful levels of lead in their blood; (4) despite the Health Care Financing Administration's mandatory screening requirements for children in these age groups, most Medicaid children had never been checked for high lead levels; (5) for nearly two-thirds of the Medicaid children identified through NHANES screenings as having high lead levels, this was the first screening for lead they had ever received; and (6) projected to the entire Medicaid population of children aged 1 through 5, this represents about 352,000 children who probably have high levels of lead in their blood but have not been tested for it.