HB 265 HEALTH ASSISTANCE FOR CHILDREN IN CUSTODY

Rep Stefanie Lord

Actions: [4] not prntd-HRC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 HB265 will now require that children in custody of the state or released as foster children under the age of twenty-six, or undergoing a dispositional study, will now have access to medical assistance and public assistance that they may be eligible for.. Evidence in writing will now be required as to the application for the medical assistance and public assistance will not also be required.  

 Synopsis: HB265 relates to medical assistance by requiring the Health Care Authority to provide medical assistance to person formerly children in state custody until age twenty-six  and requiring the Children Youth and Families Department to enroll children in its custody in medical and public assistance programs, and requiring the Children, Youth and Families Department to provide written certification of the enrollment of children in its custody in medical and public assistance programs, and providing conforming amendments. 

Analysis: House Bill 265 (HB265) modifies the Public Assistance Act, and would now provide medical assistance, amongst other changes, to children aged twenty-six, including those children that were formerly children who were in the custody of the state.
Also, when the Secretary of Children, Youth and Families grants the release of a child, the Department shall enroll the child in state medical assistance programs and other public assistance programs that the child is entitled to and shall provide the court with written certification of such enrollment.
New language states: that when the Department files a petition, it shall simultaneously provide to the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy, and if a child is an Indian child, to the child's Indian nation, tribe or pueblo, written certification of the child's enrollment in state medical assistance programs or other public assistance programs that the child is entitled to.
The court prior to a dispositional hearing will require a dispositional study in writing that will now require written certification of the child's enrollment in state medical assistance programs and other public assistance programs that the child is entitled to.