By C1 Staff
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. — The Affordable Care Act is intended to lower health care costs, but inmates across the U.S. aren’t taking advantage of it.
Jails in Nebraska are becoming de-facto health care providers since their populations are uninsured, making the responsibility fall to the facility to see that the inmates’ health problems are seen to, reports Sioux Land Matters.
Under ACA, inmates would be required to take responsibility for their own health care; but Woodbury County Sheriff David Drew says one of the reasons they’re even in jail is due to a lack of responsibility.
He also credits the number of mentally ill inmates for the various facilities’ health care cost issues, since they require medical professionals and not jail officers.