Thousands of incarcerated Americans who leave Maryland jails are left with no healthcare coverage access, according to Kaiser Health News.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion was intended to encompass previously excluded adults, including ex-convicts.
2. Maryland's prison agency reported signing up fewer than one tenth of the population leaving incarceration every year for Medicaid.
3. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services noted they enroll very ill people in Medicaid, but let most ex-convicts figure out their own insurance, because of limited resources.
4. About 12,000 of 21,000 Maryland inmates are deemed chronically ill, and they receive medical services, first.
5. State law orders exiting inmates receive 30 days of medicine, but there is often not enough time to prepare medications.