Inmate health savings proposed

LOWVILLE — Lewis County legislators next week will consider a proposed law that would allow the county to bill health insurance companies for medical and dental expenses of covered inmates.

"It has the potential of saving thousands of dollars," said Sheriff L. Michael Tabolt. "We're always looking to reduce costs."

County lawmakers will hold a public hearing on the proposal at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the second-floor legislative chambers in the county office building, North State Street. If enacted, it would enable the Sheriff's Department to "seek and obtain reimbursement for the cost of diagnoses, tests, studies or analyses" or care by a hospital, doctor or dentist for any insured inmates.

Since insurance companies pay for services provided outside of jail, it only makes sense that the same would occur when those covered are incarcerated, Sheriff Tabolt said.

"They're going to utilize a service they're paying for," he said.

The county would continue to cover all medical and dental costs for indigent and uninsured inmates, the sheriff said.

The 2010 budget adopted by legislators last week includes $70,000 for inmate medical expenses, up from $63,000 in the 2009 budget. The spending plan indicates that actual expenditures in 2008 were $73,244.38.

Potential savings from the proposed law are difficult to predict, since no records have been kept on the percentage of inmates with health insurance, Sheriff Tabolt said. However, getting reimbursed for even a handful of inmates each year would provide some relief for taxpayers, he said.

The idea of billing inmates' insurance companies has been discussed for a number of years but had never been researched, Sheriff Tabolt said.

The New York State Sheriffs Association was able to provide the names of other counties in which such laws are already in place, and officials here mirrored the proposed law after ones on the books elsewhere, he said.

Sheriff Tabolt on Tuesday said he could not recall off-hand specific counties that were contacted, since he has been working on the project for some time.

He added that medical costs could be really "staggering" if not for a Kinney Drugs program that provides discounted medications to jail facilities.