As discussed in this policy fact sheet from The Health and Reentry Project (HARP), a series of policy changes are authorizing Medicaid to cover some health services for individuals in the period before they are released from incarceration for the first time. The goal of these policy changes is to ensure smoother transitions at reentry, establish connections to community-based providers on release, and promote access to needed care and support. Ensuring that individuals have Medicaid coverage and connections to care upon reentry has the potential to improve a range of health and public safety outcomes, including reducing mortality, unnecessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and rates of reincarceration.

This fact sheet highlights ongoing policy changes, with some changes already enacted and in the process of being implemented and others only proposed, with some coming through statutory changes made by Congress and others through administrative changes made by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).