Using Jail to Enroll Low-Income Men in Medicaid

This report describes the implementation and outcomes of a pilot study in Connecticut to enroll people who were arrested and detained pretrial into Medicaid so they would have health coverage upon release. Jails can offer a “public health opportunity” (Greifinger 2007) to connect otherwise hard-to-reach, low-income people with health insurance. People in jail have substantial health needs, including behavioral health conditions that can contribute to a cycle of relapse and reoffending. Medicaid enrollment has the potential to increase access to physical and behavioral health services upon release. However, most people in jail are pretrial detainees who have brief and unpredictable lengths of stay, making it challenging to conduct outreach and provide assistance in time for their reentry to the community.