Document kmqO57LwYpXEyq59ZgGE6Bro0

: thundershowers, northern Mississippi % - Valley. Strong afternoon thunder- , showerson the western Plains. Sunny, '.elsewhere: Weather map, page 24. Chica*o FOUR DOLLARS STATES CALLED LAX ON TESTS FOR LEAD IN POOR CHILDREN MOST FLOUTING 1989 LAW Youths on Medicaid, Who Are Exposed to High Levels, Are ' Untreated, Report Says By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 - Federal investigators say most states are flouting a 1989 law requiring that young children on Medicaid be test- .! ed for lead poisoning. As a result, they say, hundreds of thousands of children exposed to dangerously high ! levels of lead are neither tested nor j j treated. i The General Accounting Office, an ; investigative arm of Congress, found > that "few Medicaid children are screened for blood-lead levels," even .though the problem of lead poisoning ...Mai Is concentrated among low-income 1 children on Medicaid. Medicaid re cipients are three times as likely as i other children to have high amounts j of lead in the blood. iV ; j . 1 Separately, ' a Federal advisory panel said this week that "current lead screening rates among children ' covered by Medicaid are very poor, despite Federal requirements."i. ' Cost is not the main reason for the failure to test children, health offi- * dais say. The laboratory test usually costs less than $10. Officials cite more complex rea sons for the; low rates of testing. Many doctors do not see lead expo sure as. a problem for their patients | and therefore''do not believe tests are necessary, or they tee unaware' of the Federal requirements. In addi tion; many poor children do not go to the doctor until they are sick, and . most children with high levels of lead in the blood display no obvious sym|>- toms;at first v.q. ,, * : b'-ynder Federal law, states are re sponsible forthe. screening of; chil dren in' Mediqaid.' They can provide vsuch services- directly, or they can arrange for the services to'be pro vided by doctors,'clinics and health ^maintenance organizations. ^President Clinton has repeatedly emphasized that all Government pol icies should be evaluated for their effects on children. But the General Accounting Office found that most of tbe.chlldren served by Medicaid and other Federal health programs were not tested for lead, as Federal law and regulations dictate they should, be." "Federal lead-screening policies are often not followed" by state offi cials, and the Federal Health Care Financing Administration, which su pervises Medicaid, does not review state compliance with these policies. 49 TOC 001906 THE NBWoYORK TIMES NATIONAL SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 1999