Report Example on Texas Prison Health Care Cost

Introduction

According to the Texas Tribune, there has been a recorded increased health care cost in the prisons despite the shrink in the prison population in the past decade. The availed records have revealed that the State injects more than 750 million dollars on the health care in the prisons during the 2019 financial year. This was increased in the allocation by more than 50% for the last seven years. During that period, the health care costed the State less than 500 million dollars.

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Health Officials

The health officials in Texas relate this to the high number of sick and elderly inmates. Their statistics reveal that while the population in prison reduces by 3%, the population of the inmates aged more than 54 years rise by more than 60%. The Department f Criminal Justice availed this date in Texas (Gross et al., 2018). The officials from the prisons say that those aged 54 and above are almost an eighth of the total population but consume nearly half the total budget allocation.

The TDCJ document shows that more than 100,000 on all the inmates must use TDCJ in the delivery o the health care. The officials say that this can be ascribed to the age of the inmates who are treated with costly diseases. They art rated diseases like HIV, hepatitis as well as cancer, and this makes the health care cost to hike. Ten patients in prisons who need critical attention require more than 3 million dollars for their medical expenses. This is a high amount for ten people in a year, and this raises a concern.

Federal System

There has been a federal system to try to curtail the cost through measures like access to drugs in the pharmacies at a discounted price and telemedicine. However, the experts in the health sector have recommended for the parole of those who are aged and those with conditions such as substance abuse be kept out of prison. This, according to them, should be a systematic change to reduce the cost.

This may not be any better I the same records continue to be availed, especially the imprisonment o the aged and individuals with underlying conditions and substance abuse. I have selected this article since there is a high-risk consideration. If the situation continues the same way, Texas will continue suffering in budgetary allocation from the increased prison health care cost. There is a need to have the consideration between increased expenditure and parle for the aged.

Having this data with us, there is a need to revisit several things. To begin with, the parole process should be more lenient on the offenders who are ageing as well as those with critical impairments. Those offenders who seem to be so dangerous in crime can confess on bold daylight that imprisonment of an offender past the age where they are a threat to the community is bob beneficial. These individuals shud be the best target in an attempt to save the cost. They need just to be put in a nursing home as Texas spends the money on other significant projects. It should be noted that those offenders who are ageing in the prisons have long sentences, but at their State, they can't pose any threat to society.

Crime Spree

These individuals cant quickly leave their walkers and attend to the crime spree. Out of the 10, 000 inmates who are sentenced fr severe crimes should be set free to ease the burden t the government. The members f the boards on the parole process should establish those who are critically ill and those who pose less threat to society. The main idea in these processes should be to satisfy the public who wants the criminal justice department to imprison offenders who are a threat to them. It should be noted that there are current cases of people wh mare not only a danger to the community but the government as well.

The policymakers cannot be left out in the desired change. They should be in the front line to combat the cost. They can achieve this by blocking individuals from entering into the system where need be. The criminal m justice committees should also be active in the diversion f the mental illness cases to services based on treatment. Through this, the numbers must record a declining trend and therefore, there will be a reduction in the health care cost in our prisons.

Cheaper Equivalents

In addition to these measures, there is a need to use some cheaper equivalents. This is where the generics replace the name brands that seem to be medically equivalent. The critical thing in the medication of inmates should not be for luxury. As such, the generics are used fr the general pub;lic and they need to be used for inmates as well. This can be done through consideration of the name, dosage and packaging of the drugs. There are those suppliers with names and brands that charge higher and which can be substituted with an equivalent dose at a lower cost.

There is a strain in the budget of the State by the conditions in our prisons. The officials are therefore on their toes in an attempt to rein the price as they try not to lose the reputation through the quality of service as well as the safety of the public. It is evident from the data that this curtail needs to be done through the various measure. The State need not only to rely on parole but also ensure that inmates are enrolled under Medicaid as well as use telehealth. There is a proper number of states who are applying modern technology in the administration of clinical services.

This model has shown the capacity to save the medical cost and improve the services both fr the public and the inmates. The video conferences are done between the offsite health practitioners and the offenders. There may be a need to have a nurse operating the systems as well as [roviding the patient with assistance. This has been going on and has recorded significant success. The reduced contact saves on cost since there are few staff.

Conclusion

The technology is expanding to include conditions like emergency care, psychiatry, neurology and cardiology. This means that there is a possibility of application of telehealth for inmates with critical situations. I believe that the Texas State had goodwill while introducing health care services in prisons in 1994. In the same way, there should be goodwill in the adoption of telehealth as a measure to curtail the medical cost in the jails. The State need only to equip the correctional facilities with technological materials required to ensure telehealth is successfully used in the prisons.

Reference

Skarupski, K. A., Gross, A., Schrack, J. A., Deal, J. A., & Eber, G. B. (2018). The health of America's ageing prison population. Epidemiologic Reviews, 40(1), 157-165.

McDonald, D. (1995). Managing prison health care and costs (pp. 61-72). US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.