On January 26, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved California’s request to amend the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal Section 1115 demonstration. This expert perspective describes the amendment, a centerpiece of which is approval for California Medicaid to provide a targeted set of Medicaid services to youth and adults in state prisons, county jails, and youth correctional facilities for up to 90 days prior to release. By providing re-entry services to Medicaid-enrolled individuals who are incarcerated, California aims to build a bridge to community-based care for justice-involved enrollees, offering them services to stabilize their physical and behavioral health conditions and establishing, prior to release, a re-entry plan for their community-based care.

On January 23, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission issued an important ruling that provides states with new flexibility to support enrollee outreach and communication efforts as part of their processes to unwind the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. The ruling permits state agencies and their partners to send text messages and make phone calls to individuals about enrollment-related issues not only for Medicaid but for other state-run health insurance programs, including marketplace coverage. This expert perspective reviews the ruling and implications for states.

State updates as of January 20, 2023.