Who are Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs?

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) defines children and youth with special health care needs as:

…those who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally.

Using this definition, the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs estimates that approximately 15.1 percent of children in the United States between the ages of 0-17 (or 11.2 million) have special health care needs. Of those, 34.3% of their families report their health insurance coverage is not adequate to meet their needs.