The Center for Adolescent Health & the Law, in collaboration with the Public Policy Analysis Center for Middle Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adults Health at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF Policy Center) has produced Health Care for Adolescents and Young Adults Leaving Foster Care: Policy Options for Improving Access.
The issue brief describes the young people who are aging out of foster care, their health status, and the barriers to securing health care they face when leaving foster care. It explains how health care access can be improved for this population, by describing how Medicaid and SCHIP currently reach adolescents and young adults, and how these two programs can be used to help former foster youth. The brief emphasizes the important opportunity presented by the Medicaid Expansion Option contained in the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, and summarizes the policy options that can best improve access to health care for former foster youth.