The only class of people with a constitutional right to health care? Prison Inmates

[jeffrey]

James Wolfe was doing hard time in Pennsylvania for raping an eight-year-old girl when he discovered that prison can be a pretty good deal. It seems James had always wanted to be a woman (he had even changed his name to Jessica), and a doctor labeled his condition "gender identity disorder." That made James eligible for hormone treatments to help change his gender -- at taxpayer expense. The state says these treatments don't cost much, but according to an estimate by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, they can run up to $8,000 per year.

Here's the really bitter medicine: That amount could go a long way toward providing health insurance for a family. With an estimated 44 million people in America lacking health coverage, one million of them in Pennsylvania alone, you'd think inmates would be the last to receive elective procedures. But Wolfe isn't the only criminal trying to get this sort of free treatment behind bars. Last year in New York State, for instance, a judge allowed a convicted murderer's lawsuit, demanding treatment for his gender identity disorder, to go forward. And in California this summer, an inmate allegedly got a state-funded breast reduction operation. He happens to be a man. Plastic surgeons typically charge close to $3,000 for this procedure...

That's Outrageous -- Prisoners Rights to Free Medical Care | Michael Crowley | Reader's Digest

[FrugalIII]

I used to date a woman who worked for a contractor who handled the medical services for a large state prison. She used to tell me of cases where inmates would get dentures, root canals, fillings or anything else for their teeth for free in prison. They would also get eye glasses, contacts and eye exams. All the medical check-ups, procedures, medicines etc. All FREE cause they were wards of the state.
There's something wrong with that system. Sure, inmates should be entitled to life saving medical treatment, but not cosmetic or elective treatments of any kind, in my opinion. Again, tax payers getting screwed!! This instance by the criminals not the politicians - oh, is there much of a difference?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

A woman here was recently release from prison after18 years there. When asked by a reporter what she was going to do, the first thing she said was that she was going to try to get her teeth fixed. It was obvious she had lost some teeth. I think, from that, root canals are probably not offered through our state prisons, but that if the dental problems are that severe, the tooth gets pulled instead.

I know a man who lost an eye in minimum security prison. No one bothered to give him his epilepsy medication for his entire stay. During a seizure he fell and hit his eye on the corner of a steel bed. Yes, the state did pay for removal of the smashed, gouged eye and then for a prosthetic eye as well as a medicine that had to be put into the eye socket daily, I think for the rest of his life, though the state is off the hook for it now since he is released. It would have been so much cheaper to just give him his dilantin. What-- 5 cents a pill? Um, supposedly this man's job was going to be offered back to him when he got out of jail, but as an in-town delivery driver, his depth perception was too screwed up.