A hearing was convened to investigate health care issues affecting children. Witnesses provided information about the way in which the health care system meets the needs of children in the United States. Components of the system include Medicaid for low-income children, the Maternal and Child Health block grant program, employer-sponsored health insurance, and Medicare for a small number of children with end-stage kidney disease. Testimony concerned Medicaid's adequacy, enrollment barriers, needed improvements, and recommended expansions; private insurance and insurers' case management procedures for children with severe and chronic health problems; prenatal care; the need for legislation to decrease infant mortality and expand coverage to poor, uninsured infants and pregnant women; health care policy and programs in several states; prevalence of chronic illness; use of health care by disabled children; paying for health care costs; Blue Cross and Blue Shield coverage and benefits; policy and program directives to specialized populations needing health care; the cost-effectiveness of expanded access to prenatal care for poor women; improved access to primary care and effective well-child care for young children; problems in financing and delivering health services for technology-dependent children; and child health activities of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Indian Health Service, and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration. An extensive Congressional Research Service report on federal programs and policies on health care for children is included. (RH)