[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5198]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCING THE RESTORING THE PARTNERSHIP FOR COUNTY HEALTH CARE COSTS 
                                  ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 3, 2008

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker. I rise today with my 
colleagues Representatives Rush Holt and Michael Burgess introduced bi-
partisan legislation today which will restore the federal-local 
partnership in covering medical expenses for incarcerated individuals 
before they are adjudicated.
  The Restoring the Partnership for County Health Care Costs Act of 
2008 ensures that individuals currently receiving Medicaid, Medicare, 
or Social Security Insurance (SSI) will continue to receive those 
benefits until they are tried and convicted and that local governments 
will not be forced to cover the medical expenses of individuals who 
have not yet been convicted of any wrongdoing.
  A person incarcerated in a county jail or juvenile detention facility 
in almost all states is ineligible to receive Medicare, Medicaid, or 
SSI benefits once they enter the facility. Under current law, however, 
the suspension of benefits occurs prior to the issuance of formal 
charges or conviction. As a result, local governments (usually county 
governments) are responsible for not only meeting and paying for the 
mandate that all individuals who are inmates of public institutions be 
provided with health care, but also for the days, weeks, months, and 
even years leading up to an actual conviction. If a person is found 
innocent, the reinstatement of federal benefits--benefits which should 
not have been taken away in the first place--can takes months, while 
the local government continues to be responsible for covering the non-
reimbursable costs associated with providing the federally-mandated 
health care to these individuals. The cost assessed to counties, 
although not exact, is in the hundreds of millions nationwide.
  The bipartisan Restoring the Partnership for County Health Care Costs 
Act of 2008 addresses this issue prohibiting the Federal Government 
from stripping individuals of their Medicare, Medicaid, and SSI 
benefits prior to actually being convicted and reaffirming the federal-
local partnership in meeting this mandate.
  Madam Speaker, stripping people of their federal benefits before they 
have been convicted of anything is a direct contradiction of the basic 
presumption of innocence which is the foundation of the American 
criminal justice system. And for the Federal Government to stick local 
governments with the tab for this contradictory policy is just plain 
wrong.
  The Federal and local governments are partners in ensuring that alI 
of our residents have medical coverage. Neither partner should be 
bearing an unfair burden in meeting this mandate.
  Our bipartisan legislation is a common sense solution to this 
continuing problem, and I urge my colleagues to support its expeditious 
passage.

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