While incarcerated, inmates have a constitutional right to adequate healthcare. Keeping it up once they are released, helps them stay out of jail, reports the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Continuity of care is essential if we want to see health and safety benefits,” said Amy Solomon, an advisor to the DOJ.
In the U.S., more than 2.5 million people spend time in local jails, state and federal prisons—costing the 50 states about $80 billion a year. About 670,000 of these offenders are released to the streets each year.
However, many of these offenders, fraught with addictions and mental illnesses, go back to impoverished neighborhoods. Instead of treatment, they are sent back to prison, according to Solomon.
The potential to minimize recidivism and cut the cost of providing medical care to those exiting prison is a value beyond the technological problems encountered during the online sign up process for the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA), Solomon reports.
In 2014, people earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line and live in one of the 25 states that have established a Medicaid expansion plan will qualify for access to the government insurance program. (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm)
For some of the newly released offenders, this would mean their first chance to receive healthcare outside of prison, Solomon reported.
“I hope that judges will have viable community-based treatment options, so they won’t feel compelled to lock up someone with mental health issues,” Solomon said.
The Affordable Care Act has the ability to dramatically reduce cost linked to corrections, Solomon said.
