Access to Health Care and Criminal Behavior: Short-Run Evidence from the ACA Medicaid Expansions

Vogler, Jacob

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3042267

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The Medicaid expansion in 2014, which provided insurance and thus access to primary care and substance use and mental health treatment to justice-involved populations, was touted as an opportunity to potentially reduce recidivism and the costs of incarceration 14–16. Two recent articles have empirically demonstrated how Medicaid expansion is associated with decreased crime at the county level 17 18. But past randomised or quasi-experimental studies of linkage to primary care or primary care-based interventions have not found any effect on reducing future jail time of participants enrolled 19–23…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Propensity-matched study of enhanced primary care on contact with the criminal justice system among individuals recently released from prison to New Haven

Wang

Lin²,

Aminawung

et al. 2019

BMJ Open

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BackgroundHealth systems can be integral to addressing population health, including persons with incarceration exposure. Few studies have comprehensively integrated state-wide data to assess how the primary care system can impact criminal justice outcomes. We examined whether enhanced primary care can decrease future contact with the criminal justice system among individuals just released from prison.MethodsWe linked administrative data (2013–2016) of Connecticut Department of Correction, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Department of Social Service, Court Support Services Division, and Department of Public Health to conduct a quasi-experimental study using propensity score matching of 94 participants who received enhanced primary care in Transitions Clinic to 94 controls not exposed to the programme. The propensity score included 23 variables, which encompassed participants’ medical and incarceration history and service utilisation. The main outcomes were reincarceration rates and days incarcerated in the first year from the index date, which was either enrolment in the Transitions Clinic programme or release from prison in the control group.ResultsThe odds of reincarceration, including arrests and new convictions, were similar for the two groups, but Transitions Clinic participants had lower odds of returning to prison for a parole or probation technical violation (adjusted OR: 0.38; 95% CI 0.16 to 0.93) compared with the control group. Further, Transitions Clinic participants had fewer incarceration days (incidence rate ratio: 0.55; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.84) compared with the control group.ConclusionsEnhanced primary care for individuals just released from prison can reduce reincarceration for technical violations and shorten time spent within correctional facilities. This study shows how community health systems may play a role in current strategies to reduce prison populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Propensity-matched study of enhanced primary care on contact with the criminal justice system among individuals recently released from prison to New Haven

Wang

Lin²,

Aminawung

et al. 2019

BMJ Open

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show abstract

“…They attributed these effects to reduced substance abuse via increased treatment. Vogler (2017) also studies the ACA Medicaid expansion and uses an approach similar to our primary, state-level analysis, finding crime-reduction effects similar to ours. Our work complements Wen et al (2017) by studying an expansion that is much broader and by developing an incentives-focused theoretical model instead of one focused on a substance abuse mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

The effect of health insurance on crime: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion

Barkowski

2020

Health Economics

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Little evidence exists on the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on criminal behavior, a gap in the literature that this paper seeks to address. Using a simple model, we argue we should anticipate a decrease in time devoted to criminal activities in response to the expansion, because the availability of the ACA Medicaid coverage raises the opportunity cost of crime. This prediction is particularly relevant for the ACA expansion because it primarily affects childless adults, a population likely to contain individuals who engage in criminal behavior. We validate this forecast empirically using a difference-in-differences framework, estimating the expansion's effects on panel datasets of state-and county-level crime rates. Our estimates suggest that the ACA Medicaid expansion was negatively associated with burglary, vehicle theft, homicide, robbery, and assault.These crime-reduction spillover effects represent an important offset to the government's cost burden for the ACA Medicaid expansion.

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“…It may be the case that even though people that exited community supervision were less likely to engage in SUD treatment afterwards, Proposition 47 led to other programs that increased overall participation in SUD treatment in the community. Research has shown that an increase in overall use of SUD treatment leads to a reduction in crime (Vogler, 2017;Wen et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This objective was based on research that shows that provision of social services, such as substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, leads to a decrease in recidivism and a decrease in crime (Frisman et al, 2006;Jofre-Bonet & Sindelar, 2001;H. A. Pollack, 2017;Vieira, Skilling, & Peterson-Badali, 2009;Vogler, 2017;Wen, Hockenberry, & Cummings, 2017). Moreover, using community corrections to mandate SUD treatment has been shown, in studies unrelated to Realignment, to lead to at least as much dosage of SUD treatment for the mandated population as is experienced by the population that enters voluntarily (Coviello et al, 2013;Hough, 2002; J. F. Kelly, Finney, & Moos, 2005;Stevens et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Criminal Justice System and More Lenient Drug Policy: Three Case Studies on California's Changes to How Its Criminal Justice System Addresses Drug Use

Weinberger¹

2019

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Access to Health Care and Criminal Behavior: Short-Run Evidence from the ACA Medicaid Expansions

Cited by 21 publications

References 44 publications

Propensity-matched study of enhanced primary care on contact with the criminal justice system among individuals recently released from prison to New Haven

Propensity-matched study of enhanced primary care on contact with the criminal justice system among individuals recently released from prison to New Haven

The effect of health insurance on crime: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion

The Criminal Justice System and More Lenient Drug Policy: Three Case Studies on California's Changes to How Its Criminal Justice System Addresses Drug Use

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