A survey from the Center for Disease Control found that the number of people who avoided needed medical care because of its cost decreased from 6.9 percent in 2010 to 4.4. percent in 2015.
Just like insurance companies and public health programs, prisons worry that health services might be over-used if the people they serve don't have skin in the game.
Critics say that doctors "cherry-pick" the most profitable patients while leaving poorer patients with more complicated needs to other hospitals. A study published in the British Medical Journal, however, suggests that the critics are wrong.
A potential change in federal patent law for generic drugs could raise federal health care costs by $1.3 billion over the next decade, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.