States enroll former foster youth in Medicaid, By Christine Vestal, April 30, 2014, Stateline: “One of the Affordable Care Act’s successes is a provision that allows young people up to 26 years old to remain on their parents’ health insurance. Under a similar, but less-known provision, young adults who have been recently released from foster care can also get Medicaid coverage, regardless of their incomes. An estimated 180,000 foster care alumni became eligible on Jan. 1. About 26,000 young adults 18 to 22 years old are released from foster care each year and left to fend for themselves without state protections. The age that a young adult in foster care loses benefits varies across the states. The new health care provision for former young people without parents in the picture grants them full Medicaid coverage until age 26 in the state where they lived when they left foster care…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty