| Summary: | The article "Health insurance as a crime-fighting tool" discusses a study conducted by Monica Deza, Thanh Lu, Johanna Catherine Maclean, and Alberto Ortega on the relationship between access to health insurance and crime rates. The study focuses on the 2005 Medicaid disenrollment in Tennessee, where 190,000 nonelderly, nondisabled enrollees lost their health insurance. The authors found evidence of a significant increase in crime rates for at least two years after the disenrollment, particularly in assaults and thefts. The study suggests that providing access to health insurance for vulnerable populations can potentially reduce crime. However, the authors acknowledge that their findings may not be applicable to the current Medicaid-covered population or post-Affordable Care Act insurance options.
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