Inmates exiting Green Hill, Echo Glen now eligible for expanded health care coverage

Mar. 4—Young people at Green Hill School and Echo Glen Children's Center are now eligible for health care insurance 90 days before their release and will have support to set up medical appointments and obtain medications through the Medicaid Transformation Project Reentry Initiative, a news release from the Washington state Health Care Authority (HCA) stated.

On March 1, the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), in collaboration with the HCA, became the first state agency to provide health care services to individuals exiting from incarceration.

According to the release, young people exiting Green Hill and Echo Glen will now be eligible for Apple Health (Medicaid) before their release and receive support obtaining health care services when they return to their community, including:

—Care management

—Physical and behavioral health appointments

—Medications for opioid use disorder

—A 30-day supply of medications

—Other supports

"Finding a doctor and setting up an appointment is stressful for anyone, let alone a young person leaving a carceral setting who may have been a teenager when they got here and never accessed these services before," Assistant Secretary of Juvenile Rehabilitation Jennifer Redman said. "This initiative means that young people will return to their communities without a gap in treatment or medication."

In addition to Echo Glen and Green Hill, the Reentry Initiative will launch at state prisons, local jails and detention centers across Washington state. Harbor Heights, a new juvenile detention facility in Grays Harbor County, is expected to begin offering Reentry Initiative services in July 2026.

"As the second state in the nation to provide reentry services — and the first to implement this work through managed care organizations — Washington is leading a transformative shift in rehabilitation," HCA's Interim Medicaid Director Trinity Wilson said. "Through strong cross-agency partnership and a shared vision, we are building a system that meets youth where they are and helps them move toward healthier, more stable futures."

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