Medicaid and the criminal justice system share responsibility for providing health care to justice-involved populations. With a few exceptions, Medicaid is the payer of health care services for eligible and enrolled individuals who are subject to parole and probation, while correctional institutions, including federal and state prisons and local jails, must pay for health care costs while individuals are confined to their facilities.
This issue brief describes how Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) interact with the criminal justice system, including the roles of Medicaid and the correctional system in providing health care; CHIP eligibility rules for justice-involved youth; and state efforts to enroll individuals in Medicaid and address the health care needs of the justice-involved population.