U.S. Reps. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, have introduced the Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act of 2015. The bill is companion legislation to S. 1852, introduced by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).

The legislation will close a loophole and guarantee that foster youth will receive health insurance through Medicaid until they turn 26, regardless of their state of residence. One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act was to ensure that young adults could stay on their parents’ insurance until they turn 26. Because foster youth do not have legal guardians, the law addressed foster youth by guaranteeing that as long they were in the foster care system by the time they were 18, they could receive Medicaid until they turned 26.

However, because a section of the law was ambiguous, foster youth who leave the foster care system and move out of state can find themselves without health insurance through Medicaid if they decide to move out the state. Although 13 states have addressed the issue, foster youth in the remaining 37 states and the District of Columbia must choose between leaving the state for new opportunities or losing their health insurance.

One of the young people affected is Lezlie Martinez, a 19-year-old former foster youth from San Diego. Martinez was planning to move to Colorado because the cost of living there is lower, but it is a state that does not offer free Medicaid to former foster youth.

“This [legislation] changes everything,” said Martinez, the mother of a two-year-old child.

Bass said the Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act – formally known as H.R. 3641 – is particularly important to ensure that foster youth have uninterrupted access to health insurance. According to the Congressional Research Service, 35-60 percent of youth who enter foster care have at least one chronic or acute health condition such as asthma, cognitive abnormalities, visual and auditory problems, dental decay, and malnutrition that require long-term treatment. Approximately 50-75 percent of foster youth may require mental health treatment. In 2013, nearly 50,000 youth left the foster care system between the ages of 16-20.

“The Affordable Care Act was designed to help young people like Lezlie, not force them to choose between school in another state or healthcare where they currently live,” Bass said. “I commend the states that have addressed this problem, but now it is time for Congress to provide a permanent fix in federal law.”