Amid dramatic political change and social idiocy, it is important to focus on certain issues that consistently remain problematic. When incarcerated, a person is entitled to free education, food, lodging, and medical care for the system to be compliant to the Eighth Amendment. This protects American prisoners from “cruel and unusual punishment.” One problem that has remained constant throughout the years is the flawed health care system in America. The American health care system has undergone several reforms and changes in pursuit of improvement. While it has been greatly enhanced over the years, there are still disputes over how this system should work both inside and outside the prison system. One of the greatest debates dealing with American inmates is whether or not they are receiving the care that they are entitled. While some inmates claim to receive abuse from the prison guards, it is also the system that is constantly being abused. Murderers, thieves, and rapists are receiving free health care while thousands of law-abiding citizens struggle to pay for necessary medical treatments. Due to the Eighth Amendment and that incarcerated citizens can no longer make their own money, inmates are entitled to receive any medical treatments that they desire. These treatments range from chemo to sex-change operations. The problem within the health care system is not that it provides prisoners with medical treatments, but that it does not limit what they can receive. 

 For years, there have been great debates about the health care system within the United States. The health care system has undergone several reforms and changes, whether for better or for worse. It is nationally understood that citizens have a right to health care, but when a person commits a crime, he loses certain rights. The great debate recognizes this, but further questions the limit of rights given to men and women who break the law. These rights, as well as the conditions a convict experiences, are drastically different than they were decades ago.  Inmates from 18th century prison experienced serious neglect and abuse while imprisoned. Back then, prisons were designed to shame criminals and hold them while they awaited their trial or punishment. Men, women, and even adolescents were all held within the same facility and were neglected by abusive wardens. Many inmates died of diseases like typhus due to the poor prison conditions (adpsr.org). Eventually, it was realized that these conditions needed to change, which is why the Eighth Amendment was put in place. This amendment explains the “right to access care, the right to care that is ordered, and the right to a professional medical judgment,” and emphasizes that under no circumstances should an inmate receive cruel or unusual punishment. For this reason, all men and women who commit crimes receive free health care while in confinement. 

Several people believe that correctional facilities across America are in need of reform. Robert Griefinger, author of Public Health Behind Bars: From Prisons to Communities, argues that prisons deserve reform due to their impact on surrounding communities. Overcrowding in prisons lead to an increased difficulty in fulfilling all medical treatments. Failure to meet required medical needs can lead to an increase in diseases and poor health conditions. Since incarcerated citizens are no longer able to earn their own money, it is the duty of the government and the correctional facility to ensure that an inmate’s basic needs are met. These basic needs include food, lodging and health care. The prison facility is responsible for ensuring that an inmate is “corrected” and healthy by the time he or she is released back into society. Griefinger argues that if an inmate is not properly taken care of in prison and is then released, his conditions can affect the surrounding community. Brie Williams, author of the article “Aging in Correctional Custody: Setting a Policy Agenda for Older Prisoner Care” from the American Journal of Public Health, also recognizes the influence that released inmates have on the community. This particular article discusses the problems that older inmates are receiving. It is generally recognized that older adults face more health problems than younger people. Therefore it is especially difficult to ensure that each of their medical needs can be met while incarcerated. 

The largest problem facing American correctional facilities today is overcrowding. Prisons across America struggle to provide complete care for their inmates due to this issue. John Maki, an author for the Huffington Post, addresses this in his article, “Let’s Talk About Prison Health Care.” Maki discusses how various American prisons are now holding nearly double what they were designed to, making it increasingly difficult to fulfill health care obligations. American correctional facilities are funded by taxpayer dollars. In fact, the average correctional facility in America will receive over one billion tax payer dollars per year to fulfill health care obligations. Nearly 24 percent of American tax dollars are used to pay for health care costs, including those which are used to care for criminals (huffingtonpost.com). To put that figure into perspective, only two percent of American tax dollars goes towards the education system. Essentially, law-abiding citizens are paying for the care of criminals. 

In some cases, this can become personal. For example, Larry Gene Bell kidnapped, tortured, and murdered a 17-year-old girl from South Carolina in 1985. However, five days before killing the girl, he called her family so that he could explain in great detail what he would do to her. A month after her body was discovered, Bell was arrested and placed on death row. While it may seem like justice at first, it is far from it. Bell was in need of a serious, life-saving operation (murderpedia.org). Even though he was to be put to death only a few weeks later, he received the operation which was paid for by American tax dollars, including that of the family of the 17-year-old victim. Imagine losing a loved one and being emotionally tortured by the person responsible for their death. Now think about how this person received a free medical operation merely weeks before he was to die and your tax dollars essentially paid for it. Cases like this are perfect examples as to why there should be a limit to what medical treatments inmates are entitled to receive. 

Since inmates are receiving such favorable health care, many people are willing to commit crimes simply so they can receive free medical treatments. David Pakman, a radio talk-show host, discusses an incident that occurred in the early 2000’s. James Verone, a 59-year-old man from North Carolina, suffered from ruptured discs and a tumor and was unable to pay for his medical bills. In order to solve this problem, he decided to rob a bank. In 2011, he went to the Gastonia bank and demanded only a dollar from the bank teller; this was enough to send him to jail where he received free medical treatments (youtube.com/pakman). Pakman discussed how the American healthcare system contributes to overcrowding prisons due to people committing crimes simply to receive medical treatments. This is also why thousands of homeless people commit crimes. They are given a choice to live and starve on the streets, or commit a crime and receive free housing with three meals a day. It is easy to see why it is becoming more and more difficult to fulfill every health care need within the prison system. 

Diane Dimond, author of the article, “Do Prisoners Deserve Free Medical Care,” also argues that inmates are abusing the health care system. She argues that while law-abiding citizens are forced to pay for health insurance and often struggle to do so, murderers, rapists, and other criminals are receiving free medical care, regardless of whether or not they previously had health insurance. While incarcerated, it is not necessary for an inmate to have health insurance; all the medical needs of an inmate are met regardless of whether or not he had health insurance. Meanwhile, any American citizen not in jail is responsible for paying his or her own medical costs. Health insurance helps pay for these costs, but not everyone has health insurance or can afford it. 

    On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare. This Act was passed with the intentions of caring for American citizens, yet it is recognized for placing additional financial burdens on them instead. This law requires all citizens to have health insurance, and those who choose not to are fined a percentage of their income (obamacarefacts.com). Meanwhile, inmates are receiving all the medical care they need regardless of their health insurance status. David F. Keely, a physician from Rock Hill, South Carolina, recognizes this problem and recently stated, “While our government sees fit to provide full-serviced health care to almost 28,000 convicted lawbreakers housed in state prison facilities, at a state cost of over $2,000 per person, our government, by its actions, is saying that we, as a state, cannot afford to provide essential benefits health care to about 200,000 working, law-abiding South Carolina citizens.” The Affordable Care Act was meant to help American citizens by requiring them to have health insurance coverage, but even those who do are often still unable to afford medical treatments. This is especially true for cancer patients. According to CNN in a recent poll, 20 percent of people with health insurance are still unable to afford the cancer therapy they need. This leaves many people with a tough choice to make: dying of cancer or living hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Several cancer patients have stated that the stress of having to pay for their medical treatments could kill them if they let it. In most cases, they just pay what they can and hope that it is enough to save their lives. 

Even lawyers have recognized this issue. Shaun Kent, a defense lawyer in South Carolina, explained in an interview a case in which he purposefully allowed maximum sentencing that sent his client to prison. His client was arrested for armed robbery and was in serious need of drug treatments, which would cost $1,000 a day.  There was no way his client could afford that. For this reason, Kent made sure that he was sent to prison for at least eight months in order to receive the treatment he needed. Kent continued to explain that this was not an unusual case; lawyers across America are constantly defending men and women who commit crimes for the purpose of receiving various medical treatments. Federal systems especially are known to have the best facilities and medical treatment available to inmates. If any prison facility is proved to be inadequate for an inmate, he has the right to sue and can receive thousands or even millions of dollars. For this reason, state governments will spend on average of $18,000 per inmate to avoid lawsuit, which cost taxpayers money. Kent also explained that the main goal of the prison system is to rehabilitate an inmate and prepare him or her to re-enter society as a law-abiding citizen. He maintained that this can become a “slippery slope” when deciding what is necessary medical treatment and what is not. Kent expounded: deciding what limits of health care an inmate is to receive is especially difficult due to possible lawsuits and moral standards. 

 John Bradford, a North Carolina state representative, believes that taxpayer money should not be used on unnecessary health requests. This poses the question as to what is considered a necessary or “unnecessary” health demand. A prison facility is to make sure that an inmate is comfortable since that is where he will live for a period of time. This is why food, shelter, and medical care are provided. Bradford explained that although a prison system is required to ensure contentment, it should not have to “cure cancer”. When incarcerated, an inmate with cancer will receive free treatment and operations for as long as he is in prison. Bradford explains that it should not be the prison’s duty to cure an inmate, but rather to make sure that he has what he needs while incarcerated. Due to the Eighth Amendment, and the fear that comes with violating it, states are willing to fulfill basically any health request of an inmate. In essence, the Eighth Amendment, again, gives criminals expressed rights to health care

The problem with today’s health care system is being recognized all throughout the country, but solutions need to be found in order to fix these problems. Prison systems are willing to provide inmates with basically any medical treatment they demand because they want to avoid lawsuits. Lawsuits against prison systems occur when an inmate claims that he or she has received cruel or unusual punishment. In some cases, this means that the inmate was abused by an officer. However, consider a case of an inmate not receiving a desired sex-change operation. It needs to be clear what are necessary and unnecessary medical needs. Although this seems like a simple solution, one can imagine how difficult it would be to determine what is necessary for a person and what is not. The goal of the prison system is to rehabilitate inmates and help them become productive members of society. When setting limits on health care coverage within a prison system, it is important to consider those with the goal of rehabilitation. There should be enough health care coverage to ensure that those who wish to rehabilitate are able to do so and can successfully return to society, yet it is also important that the government avoid spending taxpayers’ money on unnecessary medical treatments for inmates. 

It helps to evaluate how other countries deal with health care. For example, France has the number-one health care system in the world according to the World Health Organization. The French government provides universal coverage; the funds for this coverage come through required contributions from the citizens. This is based on their income, but in return they are reimbursed 70 percent of their medical bills (about-france.com). The people of France are able to see any health care provider that they choose, which is similar to how the American health care system works. In America, citizens are forced to pay for their health insurance rather than be reimbursed. It is for this reason that hundreds of thousands of Americans struggle to pay for their medical treatments. If the American government was able to reimburse citizens a percentage of their medical bills, there would be a significant decrease in financial burdens for sick Americans

The government should only use taxpayer money to pay for inmates’ necessities such as food, facilities, and basic health care. If an inmate requests something that is outside of the basic health care coverage, then it should be paid for by him and his family — not of the American people. The extra money that the government currently spends on extreme operations for inmates should be used for the citizens with financial and medical needs.  The distribution of this money should be need-based; therefore, those with a greater need receive a greater amount. Determining the amount of provision a family requires can be based on the family’s income, how large their family is, and whether or not they served in the military. In this way, those with a greater health concern can receive more affordable treatments instead of dealing with an increased financial burden. 

If the American government was able to successfully solve this problem within the health care system, there would also be a decrease in crime rates. If medical treatments became more limited within the prison system and more affordable to the law-abiding citizens, there would be less inclination for a person to commit a crime in order to receive medical treatment.  This would lead to a less crowded prison population and would allow more people to be a productive member of society. 

 In conclusion, the American health care system successfully cares for all of those incarcerated, but fails to be affordable for many hard-working citizens. The government needs not only to recognize this problem, but to ensure that all American citizens are capable of paying for necessary medical costs. Instead of providing for all medical requests of inmates, the government should only use taxpayers’ money to pay for the basic health necessities: food, important vaccines, and emergency medical care. For example, if a convict is diagnosed with terminal cancer but it scheduled for execution, he should not receive an operation to remove the cancer unless paid for by his family. Tax dollars should also not be used to pay for an inmate’s sex change operation since it is not considered a basic health concern. Fulfilling an inmate’s basic needs, while also assuring that he does not receive abuse or neglect establishes that the prison system is in compliance with the Eighth Amendment, which serves as protection against lawsuits. Another solution is to have an inmate repay the government a percentage of the money spent for elected health care procedures while incarcerated. A repayment plan, similar to a college student repaying student loans after graduation, could start when the inmate is released from the prison system.

It would be unjust to relinquish all inmates of their civil rights, but by breaking the law, they are entitled to lose privileges. Those incarcerated lose the right to live and work in society for a period of time (depending on the crime), but they are still able to express other rights such as freedom of religion, health care, and even in some cases voting. Although it is important to safeguard an inmate’s comfort while incarcerated, it should be even more important to ensure that every other citizen in America is able to pay for necessary medical costs.