Medicaid Demos for Incarcerated People Offer Chance to Test Critical Interventions

The Section 1115 waiver that allows states to provide limited Medicaid coverage to incarcerated people has drawn applications from 18 states, according to KFF data from Aug. 11. Most of those states have chosen to limit the coverage to specific populations, such as incarcerated people with positive HIV/AIDS diagnoses, substance use disorder (SUD) or serious mental illness (SMI) — and experts say that the varied scope of state uptake could, over time, show which interventions are most effective in helping the vulnerable populations that the waiver is meant to serve. 

Per KFF, of the 18 states that have submitted waivers, four — California, South Carolina, Utah and Washington — have had their waivers approved. Fifteen have pending waivers. (Utah and Oregon have both submitted multiple waivers; both of Oregon’s are pending approval from CMS, while Utah has had one approved and one is still under consideration.)