Disabled children need state insurance

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. families raising children with disabilities face difficult struggles in getting services in some states, researchers found.

Lead author Susan Parish of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work found many families don't qualify for the public health insurance program -- State Children's Health Insurance Program -- because they earn too much to qualify for the insurance program based on their state's income limits. This includes families whose household income is less than three times the poverty level, Parish said.

Some states are more generous than others, Parish noted. In Tennessee and Arkansas, for example, children are ineligible for state health insurance if their family's household income exceeds the poverty level or $21,200 for a family of four.

In New Jersey, however, a child qualifies as long as his or her family income isn't more than three-and-a-half times the poverty level, or $74,200. In North Carolina, the eligibility rate is 200 percent of the poverty level, or about $42,400 for a family of four.

The study, published in the journal Children and Youth Services Review, examined data for nearly 39,000 children from the 2002 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. The study said those less likely to receive needed support services include parents who speak limited English, children who are uninsured and children with severe impairments, the study said.