In Ore­gon, it is esti­mat­ed that $6.5 bil­lion per year would be saved if pris­on­ers in state and coun­ty jails were enrolled in state med­ical exchanges.  Pro­po­nents of this change say “they’ll like­ly get treat­ment for men­tal ill­ness, sub­stance abuse and oth­er con­di­tions that lead them to a life of crime” says the Pro­fes­sion­al Insur­ance Agents Asso­ci­a­tion.  So pris­on­ers are not required to enroll in cov­er­age (the new man­date) but now the pris­ons will take advan­tage of what has been created…and so we shift the respon­si­bil­i­ty from one part of the gov­ern­ment to the other.