Health insurance coverage

Children with special health care needs were more likely to have had health insurance at the time of the survey but were twice as likely to have been without insurance at some point in the previous year. Three percent of CSHCN were without health insurance at the time of the survey compared to seven percent of children without special needs. Ten percent of CSHCN were without insurance at some point in the previous year compared to five percent of other children. Forty-one percent of Iowa's special needs children had parents that worried about their ability to pay for their child's health care in the past year, and 15% worried about it 'a great deal' while parents of only 32% of children without special health care needs expressed worry.

Twice as many CSHCN were covered by Medicaid as their primary source of health insurance (19% vs 8%). The parents of 58% of the CSHCN rated their child's insurance as either excellent or very good, while 15% rated it either fair or poor.