Description:
On May 9 and May 17, 2018, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered 59 bills to be reported related to the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic. Because of the large number of related bills ordered reported by the Committee, CBO is publishing a single comprehensive document that includes estimates for each piece of legislation.
H.R. 4998 would require states to provide Medicaid coverage to adults up to age 25 who had aged out of foster care in any state. Under current law, such coverage is mandatory only if the former foster care youth has aged out in the state in which the individual applies for coverage. The policy also would apply to former foster children who had been in foster care upon turning 14 years of age but subsequently left foster care to enter into a legal guardianship with a kinship caregiver. The provisions would take effect respect for foster youth who turn 18 on or after January 1, 2023. On the basis of spending for Medicaid foster care children and data from the Census Bureau regarding annual migration rates between states, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $171 million over the 2019-2028 period.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4998 would increase net direct spending by more than $2.5 billion and on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in at least one of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
