Since Medicaid was created in 1965, federal law has barred it from paying for services for people who are incarcerated. When people leave prison, they often experience gaps in care when trying to access health care in their new communities. Federal and state government are considering Medicaid policy changes so that people leaving incarceration would be covered in the 30 days before they formally leave the correctional system — that is, “prerelease” — helping to ease the connection to their community health care.

CHCF is supporting the Health and Reentry Project, a national effort that seeks to promote continuity of care between correctional and community settings and maximize the benefits of potential federal Medicaid policy changes. The project is managed by the Council on Criminal Justice, Waxman Strategies, and Viaduct Consulting.

The project has published these two issue briefs exploring proposed changes to Medicaid policy regarding the reentry population:

• Medicaid and Reentry: Policy Changes and Considerations for Improving Public Health and Public Safety provides an overview of health care in the criminal justice system and describes policy changes under consideration to improve Medicaid’s role at reentry.
• Redesigning Reentry: How Medicaid Can Improve Health and Safety by Smoothing Transitions from Incarceration to Community outlines key principles for changing Medicaid’s role in reentry. It also proposes a new reentry care model and identifies essential elements for successful implementation of potential Medicaid reentry policies.