Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Six States Hit American Taxpayers for the cost of putting their Inmates into Obamacare Plans

Cash-strapped counties in six states are enrolling inmates in Obamacare health insurance plans as a way to shift costs to the federal government – a tactic that's legal but frustrating for some Republicans who don't want to see the success levels of President Obama's signature law inflated artificially.
In many cases jails are registering inmates so they'll be better equipped to access addiction counseling and psychiatric care after their release, lowering the likelihood that they'll return for more time behind bars. 
The Affordable Care Act prohibits the enrollment of full-time prisoners serving sentences, but many prisoners awaiting trial in prison jumpsuits are being enrolled purely to save county governments money – and shift costs to the feds – when they lengthy hospital stays are required.
The law specifically excludes people who are 'incarcerated, other than incarceration pending the disposition of charges' – legal language referring to the two-thirds of county jail inmates who have been denied bail or can't afford to post a bond to gain release before trial. 
'This provision,' says Correctional Risk, Inc., a criminal justice consultancy, 'will likely allow eligible inmates who are pending disposition of charges to enroll in a health insurance plan through their state insurance exchange prior to conviction.' 
Not everyone thinks this is a good thing, particularly congressional Republicans who want to see the Obamacare law's net cost to he federal government go down, not up.
'We just found out that Obamacare is going to cost $2 trillion over 10 years,' an aide to a Republican senator, who requested anonymity, told MailOnline on Thursday. 'Now we're going to have local governments picking our pockets to pay for their jail inmates? What a disgrace.' 
'It makes you wonder,' the Senate staffer said, 'when the president gets excited about enrolling a few million people: How many of them are criminals?'
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1 comment:

BOSMAN said...

How to make something miserable to begin with...more miserable for the American taxpayer.

I'm sure these 6 states are only beginning. When the word gets out that they got away with it, the list of moochers will multiply."