June 27, 2008
County OKs inmate health deal
The renewal of a contract to provide medical services to inmates in the county jail led to far-reaching discussion at the June 24 Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors meeting.
In the end, the county's contract for fiscal year 2008-09 with California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., a Monterey-based private health care provider that specifically deals with correctional facilities, was approved, but not without criticism about the way the state funds local needs. The base figure of the contract is $785,856, with the county bearing any medical costs above $15,000 per inmate "per incident."
Supervisor Mark Thornton prompted the discussion. He said it was "illogical" that much of the funding for inmates' medical needs, comes from "realignment dollars" from vehicle license fees. Thornton said money from the license fees should not go to fund things like inmate medical costs because they are unrelated to automobiles…
LINK - UnionDemocrat.com
