Children need access to comprehensive medical care to grow up healthy, do well in school, and become productive adults. Because Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) provides comprehensive medical care, any changes in Medicaid must preserve children’s access to EPSDT.

• When children have access to EPSDT’s preventive services, children are healthier. EPSDT starts at birth, provides screening at key points in a child’s life, allows for further diagnostic tests if the screening finds tests are necessary, provides necessary treatment, and educates parents about the significance of preventive care.
• When children have access to early health care through EPSDT, they receive the care they need for healthy development. Because studies indicate that brain growth is most rapid during the time period from a child’s birth to age three, early screening gives children a better chance of being healthy during the years of critical development.
• When children have regular periodic health care through EPSDT, problems can be identified and treated promptly. Children need regular visits, particularly in their early years, to identify promptly any health problems that may develop and provide intervention when it can be most effective.
• When children receive comprehensive screenings and check-ups through EPSDT, health conditions can be identified and treated before they become severe. EPSDT screenings include an assessment of physical and mental health development, a comprehensive physical exam, vision, hearing, and dental services, appropriate immunizations, laboratory tests, and lead toxicity screening. The broad range of physical, mental, and developmental examinations allows for the identification of potential illnesses, special health care needs, and disabilities that, if not treated early, can impair childhood growth and development.
• When children have complete diagnostic services through EPSDT, illnesses and developmental delays can be detected in their early stages. When an exam reveals a child may have a health condition, EPSDT covers all necessary diagnostic tests that detect physical, mental, and developmental conditions. The diagnostic services are critical, especially those during the first three years of a child’s life, because early detection is more likely to lead to successful treatment.
• When children have all necessary medical treatment through EPSDT, children are less likely to develop chronic health problems. EPSDT ensures children receive treatment to correct or improve illnesses and health conditions, even if the condition cannot be prevented or cured. Furthermore, EPSDT gives children access to any medically necessary health care service that Medicaid covers even if the state does not cover the service for adults. Children’s access to this comprehensive treatment is integral to their long-term well-being.
• When children are served through EPSDT, parents and guardians learn how to fulfill their responsibility to keep children healthy. EPSDT recognizes that early detection and treatment of health problems is only one facet of preventive care. EPSDT provides education and counseling to families about healthy lifestyles and accident and disease prevention. Studies indicate parenting is the single most important determinant of healthy growth and development; families who are knowledgeable about the significance of preventive care can use this information to create environments where children can live and grow to be healthy adults.
• When children have preventive care through EPSDT, children can obtain the skills to become productive citizens. Children deserve the opportunity to grow up healthy so they can perform well in school and do well in life.
• When children have comprehensive health care through EPSDT, children are more likely to succeed in school. Research shows that children who have good physical health and sufficient motor and language skills are better prepared for school. Preventive health care allows children develop the cognitive, social, and emotional skills needed to thrive in the classroom. In addition, children in fair or poor health are almost seven times as likely as children with very good health to have missed eleven or more days of school in the past year due to illness or injury, making it difficult for them to keep up with their classmates.
• When children have access to EPSDT, society benefits. EPSDT gives children in all states access to quality, cost-effective health care that is vital to building a strong country.
• When children have preventive care through EPSDT, Medicaid is more cost effective. EPSDT puts the focus on preventive care; a physician is more likely to provide cost-effective treatment in the early stages of a physical or mental health problem than in a stage where the condition has become chronic.
• When children have access to EPSDT, the nation benefits. Because EPSDT serves more than one in every five children, it is critical not just for individual children but for our society, our military and our economy. Children need comprehensive care to grow up prepared to be productive citizens; if one fifth of our children are denied that care, it will affect our entire society. In fact, EPSDT was enacted initially in the 1960s when too many draftees failed the military induction exams. Even today one out of every two members of the military received health care through Medicaid at some point in their childhood.