The Foster Care Shift

In the past few years, states have not only moved the health coverage for foster children to Medicaid health plans, but they are increasingly creating specialty Medicaid plans for foster children. The most recent states to award contracts for specialty Medicaid health plans for foster children are Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

The Illinois Medicaid plan for youth currently and formerly in foster care, called YouthCare, started in 2020. Meridian Health Plan of Illinois operates the program—providing;medical, behavioral health, dental, vision, and pharmacy coverage for youth through age 21;(see;Winning Contract For YouthCare Health . . .