The occurrence of birth defects poses many challenges to individuals, families and communities.
Among these challenges is the financial cost of treating children with birth defects, much of which is borne in Texas by publicly-funded programs such as Medicaid, Medicaid Managed Care, and the state Children?s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In fact, at any given time about 2 million Texas children are enrolled in Medicaid (about one-third of all children in the state) and about 300,000 are covered by CHIP.
In the upcoming year, Texas Birth Defects Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch staff hope to initiate further analyses of the economic cost of birth defects. As always, input from interested collaborators is welcome.