........................................................................................................................................................................................

Entering adulthood can be a precarious time for all teens. While they desire independence, few have the financial stability to make it on their own. Few entry-level jobs pay the kind of wages that help a young person build financial independence and few offer important benefits like health insurance.

Thats why the Affordable Care Act allows young people to stay on their parents insurance until they are 26 years old. Its not only a common-sense solution, but also its one of the ACAs most popular provisions.

If entering adulthood is precarious for kids with supportive families, imagine how much more fraught with difficulties it is for youth in foster care. Teens age out of foster care when they reach 18, meaning they are basically on their own. They lose their home and access to a supportive family environment.

Thanks to the ACA, though, they dont have to lose their health care. Former foster youth in New Mexico may keep their Medicaid coverage until they are 26 years old with one hitch. They must have aged out of foster care in New Mexico.

The ACA makes Medicaid coverage mandatory only in the state where the youth ages out of foster care. If the young person moves to another state, they may or may not be eligible for coverage depending on that states own policies. New Mexico covers foster youth up to age 26 if they were a part of the foster care system in New Mexico before age 18, but refuses to cover those who move here after they age out of foster care in another state.

That makes no sense, financially or otherwise, for several reasons:

Despite these challenges, former foster youth are highly motivated to succeed and take on lifes challenges. We help our own kids with health care up to age 26 and we help our own foster kids up to age 26, so why do we deny those who choose to move here to start a new life?

Their numbers are likely few, so the cost would not be high. On the other hand, the cost to them of remaining uninsured could be enormous, both financially, and in not having access to much-needed physical and mental health care.

Access to health care when former foster youth are just starting to make their way in the world is vitally important to their health and financial success. Its also important to the state and will likely save money in the long run. It is time for the Legislature to require this coverage.

Originally posted here:

NM should cover health care for ex-foster kids