The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved Connecticut's plan to begin Medicaid coverage for eligible people 60 days before they leave a correctional facility, Gov. Ned Lamont's office announced Friday, Nov. 6. Federal rules had barred Medicaid from covering people while they were incarcerated.
The governor's release does not give an effective date or list the services that will be covered before release. The Department of Social Services (DSS), the state Medicaid agency, leads the program. The Department of Correction, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Department of Children and Families and the Judicial Branch's Court Support Services Division are partners.
Who it reaches
The Department of Correction says about 12,000 adults and 650 adolescents are released from Connecticut's correctional facilities each year, according to the release. Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, a co-chair of the Appropriations Committee, said in the release that about one-third of incarcerated people have an active mental health disorder and 90 percent have a history or current diagnosis of substance use disorder.
Correction Commissioner Sharonda Carlos said in the release that the program means people will leave state facilities with the support they need to take their medications. Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, a co-chair of the Human Services Committee, called the Justice Involved Waiver "a long time coming."
Substance use treatment funding continues
CMS also confirmed that federal reimbursement will continue for residential and inpatient substance use treatment for HUSKY members, which the release says has been in effect since April 2022. HUSKY is Connecticut's Medicaid program.
What the record does not yet show
The DSS page on the justice-involved waiver, as read Saturday, Nov. 7, still described Connecticut as requesting authority for a reentry demonstration and cited a 90-day pre-release window as the federal option. It did not mention an approval. The governor's release describes the approved coverage as starting 60 days before release. The CMS approval letter and the approved terms, including the start date, were not available in the sources reviewed.
The release quotes Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves of DSS and Gary Roberge, executive director of the Court Support Services Division, among others, and names Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, and Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, as committee co-chairs involved in the effort.
