Youth transitioning out of foster care are at both a challenging and pivotal time of their lives. Having health coverage through Medicaid provides security and stability as they make the steep climb to adulthood, often on their own. The authors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took into account the needs of former foster youth and the fact they don’t have families to fall back on for help when they included a provision allowing former foster youth to continue their Medicaid coverage until age 26. The provision offered them similar protection to young adults who can remain on their parents’ coverage until age 26 under one of the most popular provisions of the ACA. A technical error in the ACA limited this coverage to only those youth who remained in the state in which they were in foster care. The 2018 SUPPORT Act amended the statute, but phases in the fix such that coverage will not be available for all former foster youth who move out of state until 2031. This brief looks at how states can expedite the adoption of this change so former foster youth don’t have to wait until 2031 to receive the benefits the Affordable Care Act intended for them. It also looks at how states can simplify enrollment and boost outreach and education efforts to this population.
