Here it is:
Association of Counties Pushes Obamacare for Prisoners
By Matthew Vadum
At least six states and several local governments are signing up prison inmates on Obamacare exchanges after the National Association of Counties (NACo) began encouraging counties to shift some prisoner healthcare expenses onto federal taxpayers.
Convicted prisoners under sentence may not be covered under the Obamacare law, but inmates awaiting trial can be signed up on the healthcare exchanges under a provision in the Affordable Care Act that expanded eligibility for Medicaid on Jan. 1.
Giving prisoners Obamacare coverage inflates enrollment numbers for the program and allows states and counties to avoid paying for expensive hospital stays.
To take advantage of the looser Medicaid signup rules, NACo put together a "how to" guide two years ago that encourages counties to apply for Obamacare for prisoners who are in pretrial detention.
Enrolling county jail inmates under the Affordable Care Act will be better for the prisoners and will benefit society as a whole, NACo states in its briefing booklet titled, "County Jails and the Affordable Care Act: Enrolling Eligible Individuals in Health Coverage."
The document states that the expanded coverage offered by Obamacare will "better connect individuals involved in the criminal justice system to appropriate medical and behavioral healthcare services, which in turn has the potential to reduce recidivism rates as well as county jail healthcare costs."
But David Hogberg, a healthcare policy expert at the National Center for Public Policy Research, said putting prisoners into the Obamacare exchanges will drive up insurance premiums and hurt taxpayers.
