WASHINGTON—The federal government will allow Medicaid dollars to treat some people in prisons, jails, or juvenile detention centers for the first time ever, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Jan. 26.
The healthcare agency will allow California inmates to access limited services, including substance use treatment and mental health diagnoses, 90 days before being released. Since Medicaid was established, federal law has prohibited Medicaid money from being used for people who are in custody, with inmates having access to their healthcare coverage suspended.
The move will provide more stability for inmates and juvenile detainees as they exit institutions and reenter the outside world, the agency’s administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said Thursday….