The major purposes of this guide are to: (1) identify available national data on maternal and child health, with emphasis on costs of care and insurance coverage for chronically ill children; (2) explain to the reader how to use such data; and (3) offer recommendations for improving future collection and analysis of national data. The guide is organized into four sections. The introductory section includes the project overview and material on the organization and use of the guide. Part 1 includes findings and recommendations for improving national data for financing care for chronically ill children. Part 2 includes the inventory of 17 national surveys, with a survey index, matrices of 9 topic areas, survey summaries, and complete survey descriptions. Each survey is summarized in terms of the information collected on demographics, risk factors, health status, severity of illness, health services utilization, delivery system characteristics, health care expenditures, source of payment, and other special features. The appendix includes a medical subject headings index, a technical assistance section, selected references, and a reference guide to related health data inventories. The Medical Subject Headings Key Words and the matrices are intended to quickly guide readers to the national survey most relevant to their interest. (RH)