Guest Post: Kari Siddiqui, Policy Analyst, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy

Everyone cheered when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) included a provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turned 26.  An equally important and lesser-known provision extends health insurance coverage to young adults formerly in foster care, who are unlikely to have the option of receiving health coverage through family. The ACA extends Medicaid access to these youth, with no income restrictions, until they turn 26.

The Medicaid to 26 provision went into effect in January 2014 and offers health insurance coverage to the more than 20,000 youth who age out of foster care across the country each year. In New York State alone 1,283 youth aged out of foster care in 2012. These young adults particularly need health coverage as they transition from foster care into their independent adult lives.

The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, a member of the HCFANY steering committee, is working to ensure that young adults can take advantage of this benefit. With input from our State partners, the New York State Department of Health and the Office of Children and Family Services, Schuyler Center developed materials to help youth understand and access this benefit. Young adults with ties to foster care – those still in care and those who have aged out – are helping us to shape the message, target outreach, and design materials. Their input helps us understand how to reach youth where they are and communicate effectively.

Drawing on this input, Schuyler Center developed outreach and education materials, including a brochure with an application checklist, newsletter articles, videos (like the one above featuring Shanice), a youth-targeted Everything You Need to Know guide to the Medicaid to 26 benefit, as well as a toolkit for providers. Please join us in these outreach efforts, and use the materials we’ve created to reach youth and providers in New York State and in your communities across the country. Follow Schuyler Center on Twitter at @SchuylerCenter using the hashtag #Medicaidto26 and find all materials on our website: www.scaany.org/scaa-resources/medicaid-to-26