Medicaid and Jail Health Episode 2: Interview with Blaire Bryant

Guest bio

Blaire Bryant is the Associate Legislative Director for Health at the National Association of Counties. In this capacity she works with county officials across the nation to set NACo’s policies on matters related to health policy and the public health system. Blaire holds a B.A. in Biopsychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Master’s Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Maryland College Park.

Highlights from this episode

  1. The challenge of using jails and prisons for mental health care delivery
  2. Key terms, especially pre-trial detainees, post-conviction, recidivism
  3. NACO’s partnership with sheriff’s association
  4. Constitutional issues around removing healthcare coverage for pre-trial detainees
  5. Key differences between jails and prisons, especially the different continuity of care issues
  6. Medicaid inmate exclusion policy- key issues, impact, efforts to change
  7. NACO top objectives- educate federal partners and the general public on the inmate exclusion policy, advocate for change in federal policy to allow pre-trial detainees to continue to receive federal policy, provide resources for local level advocates to pursue change, and create one body of research that examines all the components in the issue
  8. In depth discussion of recent legislative efforts
  9. State options to improve right now, including suspending Medicaid enrollment vs terminating it, and options for 1115 waivers

Further Exploration

Blaire’s recommended reads

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