Foster Youth Have Health Care Needs More Than Double That Of Other Children

Prior to entering foster care, youth had physical and behavioral health care needs two-to-three times higher than youth of the same age who did not enter foster care. The disparity was noted in an analysis of Colorado Medicaid data from July 2011 through August 2020 for nearly 1.1 million children, including 34,971 who later entered foster care.

For behavioral health conditions, the rate for youth in foster care was 583.6 per 100,000 person months (PMs) compared to 212.2 per 100,000 PMs for the general population. About 36.5% of Medicaid youth with . . .