AB604 provides Medicaid coverage for certain healthcare services to "incarcerated individuals" for up to 90 days before their release.
The Senate passed AB604 on March 17, 2026, by a vote of 32 to 1. We have assigned minuses to the ayes because criminals should be punished for their crimes, not provided with taxpayer-funded healthcare. Justice, not charity, is the purpose of government. Persons convicted of less serious, non-capital offenses should not be "caged" in government-run prisons, but required to make restitution (e.g., penal labor) for the wrongs they have committed. There exists no right to healthcare apart from an individual working or otherwise contributing to pay for it themselves, unless they receive it privately and voluntarily from someone else. Taxation in the name of "social welfare" for criminals is neither just nor charitable. Further, Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that is not authorized according to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment were intended to prevent such "nanny state" policies and the reckless use of taxpayer money. Real criminal-justice reform calls for laws of restitution, which preserves the constitutionally protected rights of convicts, while reducing prison populations and recidivism.
