On May 9 and May 17, 2018, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered 59 bills to be reported related to the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic. Because of the large number of related bills ordered reported by the Committee, CBO is publishing a single comprehensive document that includes estimates for each piece of legislation.
H.R. 1925, the At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act of 2017, would require states to suspend, rather than terminate, Medicaid eligibility for juvenile enrollees (generally under 21 years of age) who become inmates of public correctional institutions. States also would have to redetermine those enrollees’ Medicaid eligibility before their release and restore their coverage upon release if they qualify for the program. States would be required to process Medicaid applications submitted by or on behalf of juveniles in public correctional institutions who were not enrolled in Medicaid before becoming inmates and ensure that Medicaid coverage is provided when they are released if they are found to be eligible. On the basis of an analysis of juvenile incarceration trends and of the per enrollee spending for Medicaid foster care children, who have a similar health profile to incarcerated juveniles, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $75 million over the 2019-2028 period.
