Filling the gap: The importance of medicaid continuity for former inmates

Abstract

Despite no federal law mandating Medicaid termination for prisoners, 90 percent of states have implemented policies that withdraw inmates' enrollment upon incarceration. This leaves a medically and psychiatrically vulnerable population uninsured during the months following release, a time period during which former inmates have been shown to have an increased risk of medical problems and death. We believe it is of critical importance for the 10 million Americans who cycle in and out of corrections each year, as well as the communities they return to, that Medicaid be suspended rather than terminated during incarceration. © 2009 Society of General Internal Medicine.