Study Results from Grand Valley State University Provide New Insights into Policy Analysis (The Effect of Public Health Insurance On Criminal Recidivism): Global Views – Policy Analysis

Health Policy and Law Daily

2022 JAN 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Research findings on Global Views - Policy Analysis are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Grand Rapids, Michigan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Mental health and substance use disorders are highly prevalent among incarcerated individuals. Many prisoners reenter the community without receiving any specialized treatment and return to prison with existing behavioral health problems.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Grand Valley State University, “We consider a Beckerian law enforcement theory to identify different channels through which access to healthcare may impact ex-offenders’ propensities to recidivate, and empirically estimate the effect of access to public health insurance on criminal recidivism. By exploiting variation in state Medicaid expansion decisions, we find that increased access to healthcare through Medicaid coverage reduces recidivism among offenders convicted of violent and public order crimes. The decomposition of recidivism rates shows that this reduction is driven by marginal recidivists who, but for Medicaid expansions, would be reconvicted for the type of crime for which they were previously convicted. Analyses of potential mechanisms show an increase in criminal justice referrals to addiction treatment, which may reduce impulsive behavior.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Back-of-the-envelope calculations also indicate that there are substantial cost reductions from providing Medicaid coverage to former inmates.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Effect of Public Health Insurance On Criminal Recidivism. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2021. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6688)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Erkmen G. Aslim, Grand Valley State University, Seidman Coll Business, 3120 L William Seidman Ctr, Dept. of Economics, Econ, 50 Front Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504, United States. Additional authors for this research include Murat C. Mungan, Carlos I. Navarro and Han Yu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22345. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.