Many of us know that when people are sent to jail they are not eligible for Medicaid while incarcerated. What we don’t always think about is the systemic cost-shifting that occurs when those people’s healthcare is no longer covered by Medicaid, but by the state and local governments responsible for providing healthcare inside the jails and prisons. This article from CNN discusses that phenomenon, as well as the varying practices of the states in how hard they make it for the individuals to regain Medicaid coverage when they’re released:

The high cost of taking away prisoners’ Medicaid coverage

There’s also this this handy map that shows the impact of incarceration on Medicaid benefits in all 50 states. (Fair warning, some policies may have changed since the map was last updated in 2016).

(hat tip to our own Terisa Page Gault for finding the CNN article!)