Here’s a chance to lock up some savings.
The high cost of hepatitis C drugs may be straining budgets nationwide, but the country can save money if prison inmates are screened and treated for the disease, according to a new study.
Using computer models, the researchers determined that treatment could lower infection among both prisoners and society, overall. How so? If more inmates are treated, the disease would be less likely to spread within prisons, where an estimated 17 percent of the population is already infected. Beyond that, hepatitis C would be less likely to spread in the wider population once inmates are released. About 1 percent of the general US population is believed to have hepatitis C.
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