State Strategies for Controlling Inmate Health Care Costs
Publication year:
2012
| Cataloged on:
Dec. 11, 2012
ANNOTATION: “Inmate health care is a primary driver of state corrections costs. On average, states spend between 10 and 20 percent of their corrections budgets on providing health care, which inmates have a right to receive under the Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment. Because prisoners are not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, states are left with the entire cost of providing them health care. As the nation’s prison population gets older and the number of chronically and terminally ill inmates increases, health care costs are only expected to rise. This webcast provided an overview of the primary drivers of health care costs and recommended policies and strategies states can adopt to reduce those costs.” Topics discussed include: whether privatization efforts have been successful; the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on inmate health care costs and delivery; strategies for reducing costs; benefits and disadvantages of four primary models of state inmate health care systems; and how technology can improve inmate health care delivery and costs.
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