When government-sponsored health insurance expands in 2014, more than a quarter of new Medicaid recipients will be ex-inmates.

Every year, 650,000 Americans are released from jail. Upon departure, there are few reasons to be nostalgic - except when it comes to health care.

In prison, an inmate is guaranteed access to health services, thanks to the eighth amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. National Commission on Correctional Health…