From Governing:
When people leave prison, they don’t just re-enter society. They return to parenthood, housing and job searches. Navigating our complicated, costly health-care system often determines success or failure during re-entry. For Victor, coming home to two young children meant needing medication and transportation to medical visits for him and his family. Medicaid was a lifeline: It covered both. For Denise, returning from prison meant pushing through a slow benefits enrollment process so she could afford her prescriptions. Medicaid got her on a waiting list for housing assistance to cover a security deposit and first month’s rent.
Every year in America, about 600,000 people are released from prison. Between 39 and 43 percent of incarcerated people have at least one chronic health condition. When people have health-care coverage, they are more likely to find work and less likely to end up back in the criminal legal system. The vast majority of those re-entering their communities qualify for Medicaid, but too many never get enrolled. Paperwork hurdles, confusing rules and lack of support keep enrollment rates far too low.
Come Jan. 1, 2027, Medicaid will change drastically. A program of labyrinthine difficulty will get even harder, and those low enrollment rates are likely to plummet further. That’s because for the first time in the program’s history Medicaid will include nationwide work requirements. To qualify for coverage, someone coming home from prison will have just 90 days to show they are working 80 hours a month or participating in other qualifying activities. But for someone with a criminal record, finding a job after years disconnected from the labor market is not realistic in the first three months after release.
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