Federal law prohibits Medicaid recipients from accessing their full federal health benefits while they're in prison or jail, but an increasing number of local and state officials are trying to change that.
"Officials from both parties have pushed for two key changes to ensure little or no disruption of health benefits for pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime and make up most of the 612,000 people held in America’s county jails," Max Blau reports for Stateline.
Shifting inmates' medical costs back to the federal government would financially benefit cash-strapped rural jails and private prisons, which hold an increasing share of the nation's incarcerated population. But it's also a question of fairness, many say: those who have the money to post bond retain their medical coverage, while poorer defendants don't. Some officials also say that lapses in medical coverage can increase someone's changes of going back to jail, Blau reports.
"In recent years, officials have increasingly implemented a stopgap measure to help inmates more seamlessly reactivate their Medicaid coverage upon release from jail or prison," Blau reports. "And a bipartisan coalition of county sheriffs, commissioners and judges are now lobbying federal lawmakers to change a long-standing policy and let pretrial detainees retain coverage while in custody. The National Association of Counties and the National Sheriffs’ Association, which are supporting the effort, estimate that it would cost the federal government in excess of $3 billion a year."
"Officials from both parties have pushed for two key changes to ensure little or no disruption of health benefits for pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime and make up most of the 612,000 people held in America’s county jails," Max Blau reports for Stateline.
Shifting inmates' medical costs back to the federal government would financially benefit cash-strapped rural jails and private prisons, which hold an increasing share of the nation's incarcerated population. But it's also a question of fairness, many say: those who have the money to post bond retain their medical coverage, while poorer defendants don't. Some officials also say that lapses in medical coverage can increase someone's changes of going back to jail, Blau reports.
"In recent years, officials have increasingly implemented a stopgap measure to help inmates more seamlessly reactivate their Medicaid coverage upon release from jail or prison," Blau reports. "And a bipartisan coalition of county sheriffs, commissioners and judges are now lobbying federal lawmakers to change a long-standing policy and let pretrial detainees retain coverage while in custody. The National Association of Counties and the National Sheriffs’ Association, which are supporting the effort, estimate that it would cost the federal government in excess of $3 billion a year."
No comments:
Post a Comment