Health, Access to Care, and Financial Barriers to Care Among People Incarcerated in US Prisons.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Decades-old data indicate that people imprisoned in the US have poor access to health care despite their constitutional right to care. Most prisons impose co-payments for at least some medical visits. No recent national studies have assessed access to care or whether co-pays are associated with worse access.

Objective

To determine the proportion of people who are incarcerated with health problems or pregnancy who used health services, changes in the prevalence of those conditions since 2004, and the association between their state's standard prison co-payment and care receipt in 2016.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional analysis was conducted in October 2023 and used data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2016 Survey of Prison Inmate

SUBMITTER: Lupez EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11481041 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature