Had North Carolina billed Medicaid upon prisoners receiving inpatient treatment from hospitals and other healthcare providers, the state could have saved about $11.5 million a year, an audit found, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
A state auditor found that North Carolina spent $26.5 million to treat prisoners who were potentially eligible for Medicaid when it could have saved roughly $23 million for inmate care for 2008 and 2009. Paying for the services at Medicaid rates would have cut costs by $17.3 million and the federal government would have reimbursed North Carolina another $5.9 million.
"The amount of potential savings will increase when healthcare reform expands Medicaid eligibility in 2014," the audit said.
The auditor noted that the corrections department does not currently check to see whether an inmate who needs inpatient care is eligible for Medicaid. The corrections agency will begin to check inmate eligibility for Medicaid to ensure that costs are reimbursed beginning in September, a department spokesman told the newspaper.
The state's prison system pays nearly five times more for inmate healthcare than government insurance programs, an earlier state audit reported.
To learn more:
- read the Raleigh News & Observer story
- see the MyFox8 story