Relief from health care?

This article starts off with introducing the reader to a man who is 61, in prison and racking up medical bills. Which we, the tax payer, are paying for. Or in the authors words, "The State of Texas is punishing its taxpayers even as it punishes Rash for his crime." The author's argument is that keeping these sick inmates and elderly, is taking a toll on tax payers wallets and the states. It was reported that ten inmates put up a bill of 1.9 billion dollars in health care cost last year. He is trying to get the point across that not only would it be economically smarter to release these inmates to nursing homes, but they would not even be a threat to society. Simply because most of these inmates are either bed ridden, or severely ill. Whats funny to me about this is the author is making a argument to get these ill inmates out of prison and into nursing homes, so tax payers wont have to waste there money on them any longer. But no matter if they stay in prison or get released to a home, tax payers will still have to pay. The catch is, just not as much, because Texans wouldn't have to take on the whole bill on their own. I think this article is angled towards everyone and anyone, I did think it was a good move on the author's part to insert this  - (Or as Rash put it in a statement: “I’ve done bad things, but I just want to stop being a burden to the people of the State of Texas and have some dignity before I die.”).