In 2010, Medicaid and CHIP covered over a third of all children in the U.S., over a fifth of white children, and more than half of all Hispanic and black children. Full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will lead to increased coverage for these children. This paper summarizes analysis which reveals racial and ethnic variation in residential patterns and health status for children in these programs. Children covered by Medicaid and CHIP in these three groups live in different areas of the country, which can lead to variations in future changes to children's access to care due to state differences in ACA implementation.