Forty percent of children with special health care needs
who are enrolled in commercial health insurance plans
need treatment for emotional or behavioral disorders.
Health plans have been working to ensure that benefit
packages cover effective treatments for these condi-
tions, but over 10 percent of the parents of these children
remain dissatisfied with the health benefits their children
receive. This rate is twice the rate for parents of children
with other chronic conditions and disabilities. As health
plans continue to develop products that respond to both
the marketplace and their members, they may benefit
from taking a closer look at children and adolescents with
emotional and behavioral disorders.
Findings1
Emotional and behavioral disorders make up a large
share of childhood chronic illnesses. Nearly two in
five children with special health care needs have an
emotional or behavioral disorder—most often ADHD,
depression, and acute mental health disorders. In some
children, these disorders co-occur with other chronic
conditions (Table 1).
This data update was prepared by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) under contract
250-01-0013-004(03) with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Profiles of Children
with Chronic Conditions
and Disabilities
Treating Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Children and Adolescents
By Shanna Shulman, Henry Ireys, and Stephanie Peterson
Update 3 • December 2006
Quality Care
for SpeCial KidS
1The findings reported in this update come from two
sources: (1) administrative and claims data for a sample of
230,000 children enrolled in two UnitedHealth Group plans
from 2000 through 2001 (see www.mathematica-mpr.com/
publications/PDFs/menhlthchil.pdf for more information) and
(2) original tabulations of the 2002 National Survey of Children
with Special Health Care Needs, which surveyed 28,489 children
covered by private insurance across the U.S.
who arE childrEn with Emotional and b