Health Care Coverage & Dental Care

The percentage of WIC children who have health care coverage has been above 90% since 2005. Health care coverage for the mothers of these children (most of whom are not direct recipients of WIC) is considerably lower, despite being on an upward trend in recent years.

Historically, Hispanic WIC mothers who are Spanish-speaking have been under-insured, with less than half of them having health insurance coverage compared to mothers of other ethnic backgrounds. In 2017 67% of Hispanic mothers were covered compared to 49% in 2014.

WIC children have substantially increased their access to dental care from 2005 to 2017. In 2017, 78% of WIC children two years and older have visited a dentist. 2011 WIC survey data showed that most of these visits are routine check-ups, exams or cleaning.

Hispanic children from Spanish-speaking families have the highest rate of dental visits in 2014 when compared to other ethnic groups. They also experienced the highest increase between 2005 and 2017 (from 49% to 82%). Asian children experienced the highest increase from 2014 to 2017 (from 57% to 74%).

*Data source: Los Angeles County WIC Survey, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017. Sample size approximately 5,000 in each year. For more details click here.