Table 1.

Themes and Representative Quotes Regarding Medicaid Coverage Gaps during Reentry, Participants: U.S. Experts on Medicaid and Criminal Justice, 2018–2019.

Theme 1: Medicaid coverage gaps during reentry contribute to poor health outcomes and recidivism “So, [because of lack of Medicaid insurance and resultant patient inability to pay for the medication], the pharmacist would not fill his prescription. So, he was out of medication for two weeks and started hallucinating and then attack[ing] people, then he turn around [and got] sent back to the jail. I think that is just set up [for] this child to fail.”

Theme 2: Excessive burden on justice-involved people to re-activate Medicaid after incarceration leads to coverage gaps “Every step you put in the way makes it much less likely that it’s going to get done. Again, this isn’t to like infantilize or to like take responsibility away from people, it’s just … it goes back to, sort of like, the cultural competency and understanding that, like, when you are living in marginalized populations, marginalized communities, every step that you put in the process reduces the likelihood of completion exponentially.” “Medicaid enrollment is literally, it’s like a blocking and tackling game. You’ve got people coming out of a situation where they’re literally are probably like, ‘Where am I going to sleep tonight? They need to go back to school or get a job. They’ve got basic life needs that aren’t being met. So, the chance of them spontaneously knowing and then succeeding in enrolling in Medicaid is certainly a lot lower than we would probably want.”

Theme 3: Scalable policy solutions exist to eliminate Medicaid coverage gaps during reentry “I think this Medicaid issue is key for our society’s safety and reducing recidivism… I think it has a lot to do with our society, with the safety of our community, and it should be brought to all the media to push for better law[s] to protect this population.”