va. prison system faces $45 million shortfall in inmate health care...
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10/21/14, 12:06 PMVa. prison system faces $45 million shortfall in inmate health care - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia News
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Va. prison system faces $45
million shortfall in inmate health
care
Posted: Monday, October 20, 2014 4:30 pm
By MICHAEL MARTZ Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia’s prison system faces a $45 millionshortfall in inmate health care through nextyear, even as the corrections departmentbears the brunt of the latest round of cuts
in the two-year state budget.
The shortfall emerged this year after a private company that had provided health careto inmates at 17 prisons in hard-to-serve areas ended its contract with the state at theend of September, according to Department of Corrections Director Harold W. Clarke ina presentation Monday to the House Appropriations Committee.
An emergency contract with anotherprivate provider took effect Oct. 1 but at ahigher cost and in the face of a $10.2million reduction in the Department ofCorrections’ medical budget in the fiscalyear that ended June 30 because ofanticipated savings from the privatecontract, Clarke said.
The department faces a $14.4 million
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10/21/14, 12:06 PMVa. prison system faces $45 million shortfall in inmate health care - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia News
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shortfall in its medical budget this fiscalyear because of the sudden switch inproviders, as well as higher off-site healthcare costs and the added expense of newmedications necessary for bettertreatment of inmates with hepatitis C, apotentially fatal liver disorder. The shortfallis estimated at $30 million in the fiscalyear that begins July 1, 2015.
Corrections already faces more than 500layoffs under $92.4 million in cuts Gov.Terry McAuliffe announced last week as
part of the state’s strategy for closing a $2.4 billion revenue shortfall in the biennium.
Va. to cut 565 jobs, shut Powhatan prison to close money gap
The department expects to place about 100 of the affected employees in other jobs,Clarke said in an interview, but it is constrained by the loss of vacant positions as partof the package of cuts.
The department will lose about $20.3 million in its budget this year from the cuts,which include the closure of the main unit at Powhatan Correctional Center and smallfacilities in Augusta and Clarke counties, as well as a delay of at least two years inturning a juvenile correctional facility in Culpeper County into a prison for adultwomen.
The shortfall in medical services stems primarily from the decision by Corizon Healthin early June to end the contract it reached last year with the state to provide care at17 correctional facilities in areas where medical professionals are hard to recruit andretain. It gave a 120-day notice of the decision to end the contract, which had loweredthe health care cost at the facilities by $15 million a year.
The corrections department reached an emergency contract with Armor CorrectionalServices in late June to begin providing services Oct. 1, but the switch will cost thestate an additional $10.2 million for the final five months of this year and $21.6 millionin the next, full fiscal year.
The department also is paying more for new medications to treat inmates withhepatitis C, which it estimates at 23 this fiscal year and 50 the next. The cost of theircare is estimated at $1.8 million this year and $3.4 million the next year.
The department also has to bear the costs of in-patient hospital care for inmates,relatively few of whom qualify for Medicaid because of Virginia’s stringent eligibilityrules, which the House of Delegates has refused to expand under the Affordable CareAct.
The McAuliffe administration estimated in August that the state would save almost$258 million over eight years if it had expanded Medicaid eligibility on July 1, by using
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10/21/14, 12:06 PMVa. prison system faces $45 million shortfall in inmate health care - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia News
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federal funds to replace state dollars to pay for inmates who would qualify forMedicaid under new eligibility requirements in the federal law. If the state expandedeligibility March 1, it would save an estimated $235.4 million through 2022.
If Virginia expanded Medicaid eligibility on March 1 — eight months into the fiscal year— the state estimated savings from inmate hospital costs of $9.7 million in this fiscalyear and $30.4 million in the year that will begin July 1.
Without expanded eligibility, only inmates who are over 65, pregnant, or disabled andmeet the state’s income requirements qualify for Medicaid coverage, which the federalgovernment currently matches at a 50 percent rate. Parents qualify only if they haveincome of less than 30 percent of the federal poverty limit, and childless adults aren’teligible at any income level.
Currently, a little more than 3,300 inmates of the 30,000 in the system qualify forMedicaid coverage of in-patient hospital care. The cost of their in-patient care is $14.2million, which the state Medicaid program handles to ensure the state increases itssavings through the federal match.
Clarke did not address expansion in his presentation to the appropriations committee,which has opposed it, but he said in an interview, “It stands to reason that the cost isgoing to be lower if you’re going to expand.”
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Posted in State-regional on Monday, October 20, 2014 4:30 pm.
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10/21/14, 12:06 PMVa. prison system faces $45 million shortfall in inmate health care - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia News
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Harley Fitzgerald · Top Commenter · Chester, VirginiaDOC health care is a joke. Its going to take another Henry Tucker case to make it right.Reply · Like · Follow Post · 2 hours ago
Isaiah Jefferson · Top Commenter · J Sargent ReynoldsOnly in Right Wing Jihad Land, does turnin down $ millions in tax money, already paidfor...makes sense! But, don't forget...Right Wingers have Principles! But their 'Prince' must beSatan! They be damned, if they do anything to Accomodate the Poor, indigent and decrepit! Thatbe.... Socialism?
Corporate Welfare...well that is just a tenent of their Religion....and Stimulus in nature! Yes; withthem, Trickle Down econ is a ReligionReply · Like · Follow Post · Edited · 3 hours ago
Brad Butterworth · Top CommenterCrazed GOP turning down medicaid money...now that's criminal.Reply · Like · · Follow Post · 3 hours ago1
Doug Kinney · · Top Commenter · President at Legacy VideoHorrors! Cut off their cable.Reply · Like · Follow Post · 4 hours ago
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