The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners will vote on a resolution that supports the inclusion of three bipartisan, federal bills that would ease the financial burden of medical expenses of jail inmates.
According to the packet, inmates are otherwise excluded from receiving state or federal health insurance while incarcerated, leaving the financial burden for their care on the local government.
The three bills; The Medicaid Reentry Act, the Due Process Continuity of Care Act, and the Equity in Pretrial Health Act, are included in one resolution of support that the board will vote on tomorrow, the “Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy.”
About 11 million people cycle in and out of jail across the country yearly, with 60 percent of them being pre-trial detainees.
At the time of the writing of the resolution, 96 pre-trial detainees are in the Beltrami County Jail, with 43 percent reporting mental health needs and another 62 percent reporting a substance use disorder.
