Health Coverage in Jails: Provisions that Can Save Counties Money

This two-part series podcast will explore the importance of connecting county jail inmates with health insurance and strategies counties can use to connect individuals with care as they leave the jail and save money. In 2012, county and other local jails admitted 11.6 million people, costing more than $70.2 billion in county justice and public safety services. Justice programs are among the largest cost centers for county governments, as they operate 3,105 county police and sheriff departments at $30.2 billion each year and spend more than $23.3 billion on correctional facilities annually. In jails across the country, inmate health care costs range from 9 percent to 30 percent of corrections spending. In the second episode of this series, we sit down with Pat Fleming, Director of Behavioral Health Services in Salt Lake County, Utah; Lore Joplin, Principal at Lore Joplin Consulting; Nancy Griffith, Correction Health Director for Multnomah County, Ore.; and Donna Strugar-Fritsch, Managing Principal with Health Management Associates, to talk about health coverage provisions that impact individuals in jails and ways counties can use these provisions to save money.

This podcast features music from Broke For Free, Chris Zabriskie and Yacht.