The federal Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) generally prohibits federal matching funds from being used to pay for health care provided to most adults incarcerated in public institutions. For justice-involved individuals, this means that during incarceration the criminal justice system is responsible for inmate health care and that Medicaid enrollment may be either terminated or suspended, leading to gaps in Medicaid coverage at release. Due to the high prevalence of infectious disease, substance use disorder, and mental health needs among justice-involved individuals, facilitation of care upon release is critical for public health.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encourage facilitation of Medicaid reenrollment for justice-involved individuals and suspension instead of termination of coverage. At the beginning of 2023, CMS partially waived the MIEP for the first time in response to California’s Section 1115 waiver request, which, when fully implemented, will allow Medicaid coverage to begin 90-days before release to ensure continuation of care for substance use disorder and mental health treatment.
This cross-sectional dataset examines statutes and regulations regarding the effect of incarceration on state Medicaid enrollment status of Medicaid eligible people as of June 1, 2023. This dataset includes questions on jurisdictions terminating Medicaid upon incarceration, suspending Medicaid upon incarceration, and how long Medicaid can be suspended. As this dataset only considers statutes and regulations, policies of state Medicaid agencies, correction departments, and individual correctional facilities not reflected in regulations are not included here.
These data were created with support from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE).
