New health care co-pay for Federal prisoners

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has established the Federal Health Care Co-payment Act, the gist of which is simply unethical. Inmates must pay $2.00 for health services received. If an inmate does not have any funds, $2.00 will be charged to the inmate account to be deducted from any future funds received. In other words, the Feds have stooped so low as to try drawing blood from turnips. We also have to pay $2.00 for any prescriptions we get. I was expecting this co-pay because state prisons and jails have been charging for health care for years.

-- a Federal prisoner in Colorado, 23 January 2006