[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 23127-23128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               FEDERAL PRISONER HEALTH CARE COPAYMENT ACT

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I am pleased the President recently 
signed into law the Federal Prisoner Health Care Copayment Act. As you 
know, Senator Jon Kyl and I introduced last year a bill to require 
Federal prisoners to pay a nominal fee when they initiate certain 
visits for medical attention. Fees collected from prisoners will either 
be paid as restitution to victims or be deposited into the Federal 
Crime Victims' Fund. My State of South Dakota is one of 38 States that 
have implemented State-wide prisoner health care copayment programs. 
The Department of Justice supported extending this prisoner health care 
copayment program to Federal prisoners in an attempt to reduce 
unnecessary medical procedures and ensure that adequate health care 
services are available for prisoners who need them.
  My interest in the prisoner health care copayment issue came from 
discussions I had in South Dakota with a number of law enforcement 
officials

[[Page 23128]]

and US Marshal Lyle Swenson about the equitable treatment between pre-
sentencing Federal prisoners housed in county jails and the county 
prisoners residing in those same facilities. Currently, county 
prisoners in South Dakota are subject to State and local laws allowing 
the collection of a health care copayment, while Marshals Service 
prisoners are not, thereby allowing Federal prisoners to abuse health 
care resources at great cost to state and local law enforcement.
  As our legislation moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee and 
Senate last year, we had the opportunity to work on specific concerns 
raised by South Dakota law enforcement officials and the US Marshals 
Service. I sincerely appreciate Senator Kyl's willingness to 
incorporate my language into the Federal Prisoner Health Care Copayment 
Act that allows state and local facilities to collect health care 
copayment fees when housing pre-sentencing federal prisoners.
  I also worked with Senator Kyl and members of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee to include sufficient flexibility in the Kyl-Johnson bill for 
the Bureau of Prisons and local facilities contracting with the 
Marshals Service to maintain preventive-health priorities. The Kyl-
Johnson bill prohibits the refusal of treatment for financial reasons 
or for appropriate preventive care. I am pleased this provision was 
included to pre-empt long term, and subsequently more costly, health 
problems among prisoners.
  The goal of the Kyl-Johnson Federal Prisoner Health Care Copayment 
Act is not about generating revenue for the Federal, State, and local 
prison systems. Instead, current prisoner health care copayment 
programs in 38 States illustrate the success in reducing the number of 
frivolous health visits and strain on valuable health care resources. 
The Kyl-Johnson bill will ensure that adequate health care is available 
to those prisoners who need it, without straining the budgets of 
taxpayers.

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