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July 23, 2007

Governor Spitzer Signs Presumptive Eligibility Bill

Last week when we discussed the agreement reached on the SHU Bill, we also talked about the continuum of care that would be created with the passage of presumptive eligibility for individuals who are incarcerated. The passage of presumptive eligibility will allow the population of individuals released from jail or prison to not lose their Medicaid during the time they were incarcerated. This would allow for a seamless transition from incarceration to the community. No longer would they have to wait six to eight weeks to receive services and medications.

Many counties have already developed infrastructures through the Medication Grant Program to receive medications expeditiously and several counties also have transition managers in place for the incarcerated population with psychiatric disabilities. These transition managers would be able to work with the prison and jail population while they were still incarcerated to insure that the treatment plan needs were met upon release. The combination of the existing infrastructure developed through the Medication Grant Program, the utilization of transition managers and the presumptive eligibility legislation should all play an integral role in appropriate delivery of services to the forensics population.

We thank Governor Spitzer for signing the bill and also acknowledge the work of Assembly member Wright and Senator Hannon for their leadership in sponsoring the bill. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of Joe Glazer, the former CEO of MHANYS and Michael Seereiter, MHANYS former public policy director, who kept this issue alive when few others were focused on its importance to the criminal justice population with psychiatric disabilities.

The statement about the bill and the legislation are listed below.

Governor Spitzer Signs Legislation Preserving Medicaid Eligibility for Incarcerated Vulnerable New Yorkers
A.8356 (Wright)/S.5875 (Hannon)

For the past decade, New York State-based advocates seeking to help low income individuals break the cycle of relapse and re-incarceration have fought to win adoption of legislation that would suspend rather than terminate Medicaid benefits during incarcerations to prevent a very costly, lengthy re-application process that has stranded thousands without vital health and mental health care during their most challenging times: the re-entry period following the completion of a prison sentence.

This year, both houses overwhelmingly approved legislation in the closing days of session permitting “a person who is an inmate in a state or local correctional facility and who was receiving medical assistance…prior to being incarcerated to remain eligible for such medical assistance while an inmate.”

Governor Spitzer recently signed this measure into law.

By "suspending" rather than "terminating" Medicaid benefits, inmates will now have Medicaid coverage at the moment of release, facilitating immediate access to drug treatment, medical and mental health care services which are critical to their success in the first 30, 60 and 90 days after release. This would also give these individuals the greatest opportunity to start anew and not end up in a vicious cycle of repeated incarceration.

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BILL TEXT:

AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to eligibility for
medical assistance

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:

1 Section 1. Section 366 of the social services law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
3 1-a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event that a
4 person who is an inmate of a state or local correctional facility, as
5 defined in section two of the correction law, was in receipt of medical
6 assistance pursuant to this title immediately prior to being admitted to
7 such facility, such person shall remain eligible for medical assistance
8 while an inmate, except that no medical assistance shall be furnished
9 pursuant to this title for any care, services, or supplies provided
10 during such time as the person is an inmate; provided, however, that
11 nothing herein shall be deemed as preventing the provision of medical
12 assistance for inpatient hospital services furnished to an inmate at a
13 hospital outside of the premises of such correctional facility, to the
14 extent that federal financial participation is available for the costs
15 of such services. Upon release from such facility, such person shall
16 continue to be eligible for receipt of medical assistance furnished
17 pursuant to this title until such time as the person is determined to no
18 longer be eligible for receipt of such assistance. To the extent permit-
19 ted by federal law, the time during which such person is an inmate shall
20 not be included in any calculation of when the person must recertify his
21 or her eligibility for medical assistance in accordance with this arti-
22 cle.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11211-03-7
S. 5875--A 2

1 § 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 366 of the social
2 services law, as amended by chapter 450 of the laws of 1979, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 (c) except as provided in subparagraph six of paragraph (a) of this
5 subdivision or subdivision one-a of this section, is not an inmate or
6 patient in an institution or facility wherein medical assistance for
7 needy persons may not be provided in accordance with applicable federal
8 or state requirements; and
9 § 3. This act shall take effect April 1, 2008. Provided that all
10 actions necessary for the timely implementation of this act, including
11 revisions to information, eligibility and benefit computer systems
12 utilized by social services districts and administered by the department
13 of health of the state of New York, shall be taken prior to such effec-
14 tive date so that the provisions of this act may be implemented on such
15 date.