Paying for inmates' health care

To the editor:

I read your editorial concerning the county inmate health-care issue with some interest, but no one seems to be talking about a very important point. Many inmates are destitute, and so are their families. Since they are incarcerated, they cannot hold down a job.

Eventually, it will be the hospitals that are left holding the bag in the all too likely case that many inmates will not or cannot pay the bill. This will result in still higher health care costs for all of us who pay our bills when the hospitals attempt to recoup their losses.

In the end, all that the shifting of costs is going to do is to save the counties tax money up front and force responsible patients who pay their bills to pay again for the inmate expenditures in the form of higher patient expenditures on the other end. The citizens of the county will pay for it either way.

I suggest we make the inmates responsible for their bills in the form of deductibles and copays. Perhaps the repayment of medical costs could be made a condition of their parole.

Some form of safety net is needed so that taxpayers are not forced to pay county taxes and then pay again with their higher patient bills when the inmate inevitably defaults on his obligation.

JOHN CARTER WILLIAMS, Chaffee, Mo.