Even though foster children incur a higher risk for mental and physical illness, they are less likely to receive proper care, according to an expert panel speaking at the U.S. Congress yesterday.

The problem arises from inadequate funding for Medicaid. Moreover, children who grow out of foster care at age 18 face young adulthood without medical insurance.

Two federal laws, one enacted and the other still pending, might help. The Chafee Independence Act of 1999 gives states the option of extending medical coverage to foster children who become too old for the system at age 18. The "Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act of 2007," introduced in the U.S. Senate in March, would make Medicaid coverage of foster care children mandatory through age 21.