$3.5 million grant to help SLO County Jail inmates get healthcare coverage before release
San Luis Obispo County’s incarcerated population will receive more support to help them get enrolled in state healthcare services before leaving jail following a decision at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
The Board approved a $3.5 million state grant for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office to help former inmates immediately access healthcare upon their release from jail.
The funds will add three new positions to the County Jail to help facilitate the enrollment of eligible inmates in state medical care starting 90 days prior to their release.
Currently, inmates’ enrollment in Medi-Cal — the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program — stops when they enter the prison system and their care is picked up by the county.
But what happens when they are released and their county-provided medical coverage ends?
Under the old rules, formerly incarcerated people were responsible for reapplying for Medi-Cal on their own after release, but the slow and arduous process meant many experienced delays or sometimes didn’t complete enrollment at all, said Seth Stabinsky, chief medical officer with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
“It used to be that people would get out and we’d have them on medications, we’d get them all all healthy in the jail — and then when we release them, their Medi-Cal takes a really long time to get started up,” Stabinsky said.
This care gap poses a huge threat to peoples’ lives. The death rate among formerly incarcerated individuals is 12.5 times higher than average within the first two weeks of release, driven largely by overdoses, according to CalMatters.
Starting Oct. 1, eligible inmates on the way out of jail will be able to re-enroll in Medi-Cal up to 90 days ahead of their release so they can return to their communities with stable access to critical services like medication and mental health treatment.
“If they come out and they don’t get their medical needs attended to, and especially if those are mental health ... that could contribute to them re-offending and ending back to jail, or certainly could contribute to a reduced quality of life,” Supervisor Bruce Gibson told The Tribune at Tuesday’s board meeting. “If we want folks to come out of jail and become productive citizens, it’s in our interest to make sure that they have the supports that they’re eligible for without a gap in them, so that their lives can be as stable as possible.”
State expands Medi-Cal coverage for inmates
The county’s implementation of enrollment services in its jails follows the statewide extension of Medi-Cal to eligible incarcerated individuals.
In January 2023, California became the first state permitted to provide state benefits under Medicaid to incarcerated individuals as they prepare to leave jail.
At least eight other Californian counties have submitted readiness plans for the state to review, all with start dates on par with SLO County’s on Oct. 1.
The new guidelines require all jails and prisons in California to have every eligible incarcerated person preparing to leave jail enrolled in Medi-Cal prior to discharge by October 2026.
This includes those with chronic conditions, diagnosed or suspected mental illness, substance use disorders and disabilities, as well as pregnant inmates and all juvenile inmates.
According to Stabinsky, about 92% of incarcerated people in the SLO County Jail will qualify for Medi-Cal services under the new provisions.
What will grant funding pay for?
The funds made available to the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday will cover the costs of hiring three new positions in the jail.
The correctional deputy and two behavior health specialists and clinicians will help get eligible inmates set up with community care providers through Medi-Cal prior to discharge and also facilitate hand offs to post-release care managers.
The $3.5 million grant comes entirely from the California Department of Health Care Services and will fund the roles through 2026, after which some of the expenses will be billed to Medi-Cal and covered by other grants, Stabinsky said.
The goal of the program is to enroll as many eligible inmates as possible before they leave jail, but Stabinsky said it will be hard to get everyone covered.
“A lot of people get out of here quickly, so we won’t be able to cover everybody face-to-face,” he said.
Stabinsky said the agency is working with the state on retroactive enrollment services to help those who are discharged without enrolling in Medi-Cal get set up through the jail even after they are released.
“There’s a lot of excitement in here over this,” Stabinsky said. “We really feel like for many years, we’ve done a lot of good treatment for people in here, and we send them out, and there hasn’t been enough help in the community ... Now there really is.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2024 at 12:23 PM with the headline "$3.5 million grant to help SLO County Jail inmates get healthcare coverage before release."
