Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Caring for the Criminal

 

shutterstock_340951064While the federal government shells-out for Chelsea Manning’s sex reassignment operation, state prisons are trying to figure out how to treat thousands of inmates afflicted with hepatitis C without busting their budgets. Via the WSJ:

The medicines, however, are so expensive, and the problem so widespread, that to treat all sufferers would blow up most prison budgets. List prices for the newer drugs range from $54,000 to $94,000 a person for a typical 12-week course. […] In a March court filing, the [Pennsylvania] department said treating the state’s estimated 7,000 infected inmates would cost about $600 million, which “would effectively cripple the Department from a budgetary standpoint” and squeeze other medical care and security needs.

More:

California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said costs for hepatitis C medication totaled $66 million in the year ending June 30, compared with $47 million the year before. The increase stemmed more from a jump in cost per treatment than from an increase in the number of patients being treated.

In Alaska, about 1,800 of the 4,624 inmates on any given day have hepatitis C, said Robert Lawrence, chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Corrections. Treating them all would cost nearly three times Alaska’s $40 million annual prison-system health-care budget.

There are 13 comments.

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  1. KC Mulville Inactive

    This and the Bradley Manning story show the latest medical innovation. Can’t afford your medical expenses? Commit a crime!

    • #1
    • September 15, 2016, at 5:58 AM PDT
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  2. Austin Murrey Inactive

    What’s causing the Hep C to spread? Drug use?

    • #2
    • September 15, 2016, at 5:58 AM PDT
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  3. Zafar Member

    “The increase stemmed more from a jump in cost per treatment than from an increase in the number of patients being treated.”

    ??

    Medical breakthrough, I assume.

    Also – Duty of [CoC] Care. It shouldn’t be a question.

    • #3
    • September 15, 2016, at 6:31 AM PDT
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  4. Kozak Member
    Kozak Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Austin Murrey:What’s causing the Hep C to spread? Drug use?

    Usually transmitted by sharing needles, blood transfusions, procedures ( Medical, tattooing, razor sharing). Occasional sexual transmission.

    my guess in the prison population is overwhelmingly due to IV drug abuse.

    • #4
    • September 15, 2016, at 6:53 AM PDT
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  5. Austin Murrey Inactive

    Kozak:

    Austin Murrey:What’s causing the Hep C to spread? Drug use?

    Usually transmitted by sharing needles, blood transfusions, procedures ( Medicsl, tattooing, razor sharing). Occasional sexual transmission.

    my guess in the prison population is overwhelmingly due to IV drug abuse.

    News you can use.

    • #5
    • September 15, 2016, at 6:54 AM PDT
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  6. Eric Hines Inactive

    It’s a question of prioritizing limited resources.

    It’s also a question of an intrusive (I say out of control) FDA and its supporters in Government artificially driving up the prices of medicines, medical devices, and medical care generally, whether by design, or by hastily drawn (or lazily drawn) laws and regulations and demands for this and that, or the supposed need for Government to do something.

    Eric Hines

    • #6
    • September 15, 2016, at 6:59 AM PDT
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  7. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Those are the costs for the latest treatments. I’d like to know how the costs and effectiveness of the next latest treatments compare. I’m not at all convinced our imprisoned criminals have earned the very best at any cost, they might have to settle for second best like most of us taxpayers often have had to do.

    • #7
    • September 15, 2016, at 7:10 AM PDT
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  8. Quake Voter Inactive

    If felons want cutting edge pharma care they should volunteer for drug trials.

    “a person” in the WSJ?

    • #8
    • September 15, 2016, at 7:28 AM PDT
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  9. Z in MT Member

    @erichines and @okiesailor,

    The big change in Hep C treatment is that there is a new drug that cures Hep C for most people. Previous Hep C treatments only suppressed the symptoms and one needed to be on them for life. This new drug generally runs >$50K, but after one course of treatment the patient is Hep C free. In this case the company that makes the cure drug is pricing it based roughly on the equivalent of the lifetime costs of the older treatments.

    This drug has also become a big issue for the military.

    • #9
    • September 15, 2016, at 8:13 AM PDT
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  10. Frozen Chosen Inactive

    Z in MT:@erichines and @okiesailor,

    The big change in Hep C treatment is that there is a new drug that cures Hep C for most people. Previous Hep C treatments only suppressed the symptoms and one needed to be on them for life. This new drug generally runs >$50K, but after one course of treatment the patient is Hep C free. In this case the company that makes the cure drug is pricing it based roughly on the equivalent of the lifetime costs of the older treatments.

    This drug has also become a big issue for the military.

    Seems like the chance of reinfecting is pretty high for a prison inmate so it would mean multiple $50k treatments. Now you’re really talking some big money!

    • #10
    • September 15, 2016, at 1:16 PM PDT
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  11. Z in MT Member

    Frozen Chosen:

    Z in MT:@erichines and @okiesailor,

    The big change in Hep C treatment is that there is a new drug that cures Hep C for most people. Previous Hep C treatments only suppressed the symptoms and one needed to be on them for life. This new drug generally runs >$50K, but after one course of treatment the patient is Hep C free. In this case the company that makes the cure drug is pricing it based roughly on the equivalent of the lifetime costs of the older treatments.

    This drug has also become a big issue for the military.

    Seems like the chance of reinfecting is pretty high for a prison inmate so it would mean multiple $50k treatments. Now you’re really talking some big money!

    That is an interesting question. I don’t know if the new drug also makes one immune to the Hep C virus, or if it just eradicates it and one can recontract it.

    This drug is actually a very interesting test case for pricing.

    • #11
    • September 15, 2016, at 2:03 PM PDT
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  12. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Comments #9 and 10 make me wonder something. If Frozen Chosen and Z in MT swapped avatars would anybody notice?

    • #12
    • September 15, 2016, at 2:06 PM PDT
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  13. Frozen Chosen Inactive

    Randy Weivoda:Comments #9 and 10 make me wonder something. If Frozen Chosen and Z in MT swapped avatars would anybody notice?

    Z’s fish is bigger than mine.

    • #13
    • September 15, 2016, at 2:27 PM PDT
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