How Health Care Reform Will Ease U.S. Prisons

by Te-Ping Chen · 2010-03-24 11:29:00 UTC
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When it comes to high U.S. imprisonment rates, untreated substance abuse and mental illness are among the greatest contributors out there. Now, though, with the passage -- finally! -- of U.S. healthcare reform, it looks like people facing either are getting something of a reprieve.

During the eleventh-hour discussions about health care reform, we heard plenty of talk about Congressional Budget Office scores, budgetary gimmicks and back-loaded spending. But what about how health care reform might actually help save money, thanks to expanded treatment options?

In 2008, fully 28 million people around the country were in need of treatment for drug or alcohol abuse. Yet less than one in 10 of such people were actually receiving it. Not surprisingly, between missed work, health costs and addiction-driven crime, such a treatment shortfall is weighted with serious economic consequences. In fact, according to government estimates, the cost of alcohol abuse totals $185 billion, and the costs of drug abuse some $140 billion.

By contrast? Treatment for substance abuse actually saves money. For example, one study of Iowa's addiction prevention programs found that investments yielded a 10-1 social return. Likewise, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that for every dollar spent on addiction treatment, communities save $4 to $7 in the prevention of drug-related crimes. And for certain outpatient programs, NIDA reports, that savings-to-cost ratio can reach even 12:1.

Not only does the legislation Obama signed yesterday extend healthcare to millions of the previously vulnerable and uninsured, but new health exchanges for small businesses and the individual market will also include mental health and substance abuse benefits.

Want to get an idea of what the impact might look like? Take a look at Maine, Vermont or Massachusetts, all of which have recently passed health-care laws that are closest to the one just passed. As Rob Morrison of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) notes, once Maine expanded benefits available for substance abuse treatment, the number of yearly admissions rose 50%. The number receiving drug and alcohol treatment in Vermont likewise spiked.

There's no shortage of good news to be found in the health care bill. But for criminal justice reformers in particular, there's plenty to celebrate.

Photo Credit: kimubert

Te-Ping Chen Te-Ping Chen is a freelance writer and U.S. Truman Scholar whose writing has appeared in the Nation Magazine, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com.
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