In January 2023, California became the first state to receive federal approval to cover a targeted set of services through Medicaid in the 90 days before a person leaves prison, jail, or a youth correctional facility. This policy change holds significant potential to improve the health of Californians reentering the community after incarceration.

Breaking Ground: How California Is Using Medicaid to Improve the Health of People Leaving Incarceration (PDF) reviews this first real-world test of whether Medicaid coverage of prerelease services will increase access to care and improve health outcomes following release.

This issue brief:

• Describes California’s reforms, which were approved through the state’s CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) initiative, a five-year effort to transform Medi-Cal
• Provides background on the intersection of health and reentry policy
• Examines anticipated implementation issues and the potential impact of these changes

When approved in January, the “go-live” date was set for April 1, 2024, but California’s Department of Health Care Services later pushed back the date to October 1, 2024, to allow more time for correctional facilities, counties, managed care plans, and community-based organizations to prepare for implementation.

This brief was produced with CHCF support by the Health and Reentry Project. It is the final in a series of three issue briefs that explores changes to Medicaid policy regarding the reentry population.

About the Authors

Margot Cronin-Furman, Vikki Wachino, John Sawyer, and Silicia Lomax.