3 DAYS, 11 EV EN T S, 18 W I N ER I ES
NEWS | HEALTH REFORM
“INSURED AND BEHIND BARS,” CONTINUED...
APRIL 25-27 BOOK YOUR WINE EXTRAVAGANZA PACKAGE. STARTING AT $ 219
208.76 5 . 4 0 0 0 • C DAWI N E F E S T. C OM
ers in Medicaid. Jails in Clallam, Skagit, Stevens and Clark counties also have asked HCA to join Thurston and Spokane counties and start signing inmates up for insurance. “They want them to get help they need to get care,” says David Cloud, a program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice. “Half the reason they’re ending up in their custody is that that care hasn’t been available to them in their community.” People in jails and prisons are disproportionately sicker than the general population, Cloud says, with higher rates of chronic and infectious disease and behavioral health disorders. Because the ACA requires insurers to provide the same level of benefits for mental as well as physical health conditions, for the first time many will be able to continue receiving treatment for their mental illness, addiction or disease long after their release. They’ll also be less likely to re-offend: A 2009 Washington state study found that poor adults who received chemical dependency treat-
ment were rearrested at rates 17 to 33 percent lower than those who needed treatment, but didn’t get it. That reduction in crime translated to $5,000 to $10,000 in public savings per person treated. “It’s the trickle-down effect,” says Kristina Ray, the mental health manager at Spokane County Jail. “They’ll be able to get a job, maintain housing and improve their quality of life. … If they didn’t have health insurance, they wouldn’t be able to get all of that.”
B
ack at Geiger, Penny Penton, a slight, silver-haired mental health and chemical dependency counselor, shuffles out of her office in the education building. She hands Martin a small stack of insurance applications from exiting inmates. “This has been a godsend to us,” she says softly. Penton, a case manager for North East Washington Treatment Alternatives, runs reentry services at Geiger. Penton rattles off a list of common afflictions
It’s like waking up on vacation. Every day. That’s what it’s like when you live at Fairwinds - Spokane Retirement Community. Take a look at that picture. That could be you—every day. Call now.
520 East Holland Ave • Spokane (509) 468-1000 • www.leisurecare.com Assisted Living services available 14 INLANDER APRIL 24, 2014