Last month, the federal government approved an important new rule that makes people on probation or parole, out on bail, or living in a halfway house eligible to receive Medicare benefits, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Under the new rule, an estimated 340,000 people over the age of 65 who are on probation or parole will be able to access healthcare coverage, along with many others who are now under other forms of community supervision. The rule change is important because within the criminal-justice system are disproportionately high rates of older people and people with disabilities who are more likely to be uninsured --- and to have dramatically higher rates of serious medical conditions, including Hepatitis B or C, kidney disease, and other disabilities. The new rules go into effect on January 1, 2025.
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older or who have certain disabling medical conditions. By definition, Medicare does not provide care for people who are “in custody” – but prior to the rule change, the term “in custody” applied not only to people behind bars, but also to anyone who was on bail, probation, parole, or in a halfway house. “The federal government based its previous Medicare policy on the flawed notion that people on community supervision received medical care from a correctional authority, which we heard time and time again is not the case. Prisons and jails often don’t provide adequate care to people behind bars, and they certainly don’t provide it to people living in the community,” noted Mike Wessler for the Prison Policy Initiative, which submitted public comment this fall urging the change, along with dozens of other groups, including the Health and Reentry Project , Justice in Aging and the Legal Action Center.
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