An Analysis of Medicaid Penetration Rates Among Individuals Arrested in the State of Florida 2006-2007

Publication Date: 6/1/2009

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Description:

Florida's communities all must develop alternative strategies for addressing the needs of individuals with mental illnesses who enter or are at risk of entering the criminal justice system. Many individuals with serious mental illnesses cycle through the criminal justice system repeatedly, while their illnesses go virtually untreated. This is at great cost to the individual, their families, the court system, and the community. The Florida Supreme Court convened a Mental Health Subcommittee to examine how this situation can be alleviated. In a comprehensive report issued in fall, 2007, the Subcommittee recommended broad reform of Florida's publicly funded behavioral health system. A key recommendation was expanding the use of Medicaid as a funding source for the population in question. However, implementation of these recommendations requires addressing several threshold questions. These include 1) the approximate current penetration rate of the Medicaid system by individuals who enter the criminal justice system; 2) the characteristics of the population that has been or is eligible for Medicaid; and 3) the approximate size of the population that might be eligible for Medicaid in this population. This project, through FMHI's access to county specific arrest booking data and to Medicaid data, conducted preliminary analyses necessary to begin addressing these questions.