Healthcare For Prisoners

Last year we heard the story that former Manson family member Susan Atkins had ran up a $1.3 million medical bill for treatment of her brain tumor. Who is flipping this $1.3 million bill? Us taxpayers. A majority of us were extremely disgusted by the fact that how could a convicted murderer, someone who a lot of us see as the scum of the earth, get such good healthcare while 46 million of us tax payers can’t even afford decent healthcare while most of us would be denied by the time we ran up a bill that huge. Realistically, prisoners sometimes do get better healthcare than some of us. Although they’re prisoners, they have to be provided with the basic necessities of life, food, shelter, and I guess that also includes healthcare. This whole thing got me thinking; why not make prisoners buy their own insurance?

My Idea

A majority of us get health insurance from our employers. Our employers buy a large group plan and a certain amount comes out of our paychecks. When we need to see a doctor or get a prescription filled we have a co-pay or deductible that comes out of our own pockets.


Prisoners work too. They get paid several dollars an hour to pick up litter, fight fire, make license plates etc. I know some prisoners sell artwork; write books, etc. while in prison, as long as they fund it themselves. Anyone realize that this is income? I know that some of this income is needed to buy certain necessities like toothpaste, OTC drugs, shampoo, etc. but quite a lot of it goes to extra things like books, games etc. Make them use that money to buy health insurance, like the rest of us.

In Action


The prisoner either buys his/her own health insurance plan or the correctional facility buys or creates a health insurance plan. Every month prisoners who want health insurance have to contribute a certain amount. If you don’t contribute you don’t get covered. Let them make the choice that most of us have to make. I pretty sure most of us would rather use the amount taken out of our paychecks to go on a nice vacation or get something nice, but health insurance is just something we need.


When the prisoner gets sick, the prisoner is stuck paying the co-pay or deductible just like the rest of us. Just like how our insurers can deny claims and we have to fight them, hire lawyers, get multiple doctors approvals, etc. make the prisoners do that too.