What Do America’s Prisons and Hospitals Have in Common?

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

You may not think that the subjects of America’s prisons and our nation’s hospitals have anything in common. You would be mostly correct. However, the one thing they share is how they affect our nation’s economy.

I begin with one of our country’s biggest problems: incarceration. Currently, there are about two million men and women in our prisons and jails. The statistics, which are of far greater importance, are very disturbing.

America has a little more than 4% of the world’s population, and 20-25 percent of all men and women incarcerated in the world. Even more disturbing is the recidivism rate, which is far greater than any other nation in the world. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that 66% of released state prisoners were rearrested within three years, and a staggering 82% were arrested at least once during a ten-year follow-up.

There is only one reason for this tragic fact. Our nation’s prisons are designed to punish convicted criminals, not to rehabilitate them.

About 69% of all men and women in our jails and prisons are non-white: Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander individuals. 37% of these are Black, although Black Americans compose just 13 percent of the entire population.

The cost of imprisoning one inmate for a single year in 2025 is $44,090 in federal prison, and $65,000 in state prisons. The average income for all prisoners, prior to their incarceration, was $19,650. You do the math and tell me how these facts affect our nation’s economy. About 8% of prisons are operated by private companies. The population is composed of both state and federal offenders. These prisons are more costly than prisons operated by state and local governments.

Republicans claim that there is “absolutely no relationship between poverty and crime.” The only applicable word is “bullshit.”

Currently there are 902 billionaires/oligarchs in the United States, and 24 million millionaires. On inauguration day, January 20, 2025 there were 813 billionaires. These super-rich Americans compose just 7% of our nation’s population. These men and women contribute to the misleading average income for all Americans of about $62,000 per year.

I offer you a real statistic. About one-half of all Americans struggle to survive in the low-income level or below the poverty line. My wife and I are in that demographic. Greedflation continues to be a huge problem. Our receipts from the grocery store are 50-60 percent higher than they were two years ago.

However, our greatest fear is facing a possible health emergency. I am 79 years old, and my wife will be 75 soon. One year ago, I was hospitalized for a life-threatening bacterial infection.

I was taken to the emergency room a little before midnight. I was charged a fee for emergency room services. Although I was officially admitted to the hospital after midnight, I was charged for a full day. I was eventually discharged at noon on the fourth day. The bill was for four full days in the hospital.

The average charge for an overnight stay in America’s hospitals is $3,025. A doctor’s visit ranges between $100 and $600.

I was born in 1946. The cost of admission to a hospital averaged $9. By 1955, it was $21.

My total bill was for more than $26,000.

I was bedridden for all four days, I was taken downstairs for multiple and unnecessary testing during the first two days. After this initial discomfort, I was left alone. Not once did anyone walk into my room and ask me if I needed anything. I only saw an employee when blood was drawn and my vitals checked, or when inedible “food” was delivered. I survived for four days on the Gatorade my wife brought me from home.

Because I was bedridden, I was forced to press a button and ask for assistance when I needed a bedpan. The longest wait I had was 45 minutes. Some of the nurses cleaned me well, some left me as I was after the bedpan was removed.

On my bill there were multiple charges for services which never occurred. I had no physical therapy. I was visited by a single doctor for about 10 minutes over four days. However, I was billed for the services of six physicians.

I received separate bills from radiologists, and an ambulance fee of more than $1,600 for an eight-minute ride. An Uber would have been much less expensive.

I will end this tale with a single fact. If I had required surgery or any real assistance from a nurse, orderly, or God forbid a doctor, my wife and I would be homeless today.

From the time I became an adult until today, the rising cost of healthcare has been a problem. However, for the last 60 years our incompetent government has done nothing. “Obamacare” was a partial solution for many Americans. However, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will remove healthcare from as many as 60 million Americans.

The United States remains the only nation in the world without universal healthcare.

The most expensive healthcare “system” in the world, and a failed penal system contribute to what is becoming an economic disaster in America. Income inequality continues to be an enormous problem, although our federal government declines to admit its existence.

Incarcerating millions of Americans is profitable for a few, but places a burden on necessary social programs.

The most costly and inefficient healthcare system in the world poses a serious threat to the welfare of more than 160 million Americans.

However, our nation’s professional politicians continue to lie, claiming that “America is the greatest country in the world,” and “America is the richest country in the world.” The latter is true but only for 7% of our nation’s people.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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