The lived experiences of foster care children often include ongoing trauma that results in poor health outcomes and sometimes unmet physical and behavioral health needs. The need to address these health disparities is heightened as young adults emancipate from foster care and transition from pediatric to adult health care services. Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) provides health insurance coverage for young adults who emancipate from foster care (usually at age 18) until they are 26. To understand the extent that emancipating youth utilize their Health First Colorado coverage, the Farley Health Policy Center, in collaboration with the Colorado Departments of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) and Human Services (CDHS), analyzed their continued enrollment in Health First Colorado and their utilization of fee-for-service (FFS) and capitated behavioral health care services.

The results show that compared to their non-foster care peers, young adults who emancipate experienced decreases in utilization of primary care, behavioral health care and pharmacy and increased utilization of emergency department services. Those who emancipated and also had medical and behavioral health conditions experienced the largest changes in utilization and in overall costs.

To learn more access the reports: 

• Health Care Utilization Among Young Adults with Health First Colorado Insurance Coverage after Foster Care Emancipation.
• Health Care Utilization of Young Adult Health First Colorado Members by Lived Experience Emancipating from Foster Care and Medical Complexity
• Health Care Expenditures of Young Adult Health First Colorado Members by Lived Experience Emancipating from Foster Care
• Psychotropic Medication Use Among Young Adult Health First Colorado Members: Differences in Utilization Between Youth Emancipating from Foster Care and their Peers