HARTFORD, Conn. — Federal regulators have approved Connecticut's plan to begin Medicaid coverage for eligible people 60 days before they are released from correctional facilities, Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday.

The approval came from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Federal rules have long barred Medicaid from covering people while they are incarcerated, and the state departments of Social Services and Correction saw that as a barrier to helping people after release, the governor's office said. State officials said the change is meant to help people leaving incarceration manage chronic health problems, including substance use disorders, by connecting them with health care and social services before they go home.

The federal agency also said Connecticut will continue to receive federal reimbursement for residential and inpatient substance use treatment for HUSKY members, an arrangement in place since April 2022, according to the governor's office.

The Department of Social Services, the state Medicaid agency, will lead both programs with the departments of Correction, Mental Health and Addiction Services, and Children and Families, and the Judicial Branch's Court Support Services Division.

Correction Commissioner Sharonda Carlos said 12,000 adults and 650 adolescents are released from Connecticut's correctional facilities each year. For them, she said, "this initiative means people will leave our facilities with the support they need to take their medications, keep their appointments, and lead productive lives."

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, a co-chair of the legislature's Appropriations Committee, said one-third of people incarcerated in Connecticut "have active mental health disorders that require ongoing treatment, and 90% have a history of or a current substance use disorder."

The Lamont administration worked with legislative leaders on the proposals over several years, the governor's office said.

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