Medicaid expansion may help former inmates get treatment

Now that hes getting help for his drug addiction, John Jacobs is confident he wont go back to prison.

The 27-year-old Putnam County resident spent a year locked up for pawning stolen electronics to support his addiction. He was released in January and has been at a long-term residential treatment facility through Prestera Center since then.

Im happy, Im clean, Jacobs said. Any other time in the past I just got clean for other people Now I just dont want to get high.

A kitchen worker at the FireSide Grille in Hurricane, Jacobs gets Medicaid, which pays for his substance abuse treatment.

I was fortunate to get on Medicaid because I was getting [treatment] for free for three months through the [Veterans Administration] and then I got to pay for the rest of it, Jacobs said. I work, but I pay for child support and stuff so I dont make enough to do that.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin used federal money to expand West Virginias Medicaid program. As of last week, more than 120,000 West Virginians had signed up under the expanded program.

That number includes ex-inmates with drug addictions like Jacobs. State officials believe those people will get treatment for their addictions and mental health problems under expanded Medicaid and fewer of them will commit crimes again and end up back in prison.

One of the drivers behind a criminal history, director or indirectly, is a substance abuse problem, Jim Rubenstein, commissioner of the state Division of Corrections told the Gazette earlier this year. [Medicaid coverage] could make a critical difference, by having some kind of coverage that would gain these individuals access to needed treatment or counseling. And while we know that substance abuse is a big issues, to have coverage for basic medical care could also make a difference in their lives as well.

Of the West Virginia inmates released in 2009, 26.3 percent have committed crimes again, according to the latest data available from the DOC.

Under the health care reform law, West Virginia expanded its Medicaid program to cover those who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or a little under $12,000 a year for an individual. As of May 27, 123,403 West Virginia residents had signed up for Medicaid under the expanded program.

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Medicaid expansion may help former inmates get treatment