By Hamric H.B. No. 2979
74R7783 GWK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to dental, medical, and health-related expenses incurred
1-3 by prisoners confined in county jail and persons kept under guard
1-4 in county jail.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Article 104.002, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-7 amended by amending Subsection (d), as amended by Chapters 14 and
1-8 434, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991, and by
1-9 adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read as follows:
1-10 (d) A person who is <or was> a prisoner in a county jail or
1-11 is kept under guard in a county jail and receives <received>
1-12 medical, dental, or health-related <health related> services <from
1-13 a county or a hospital district> shall be required to pay for such
1-14 services when they are rendered. If a health care provider,
1-15 medical facility in the jail, public hospital, or mandated provider
1-16 as defined by Section 61.002, Health and Safety Code, provides a
1-17 medical, dental, or health-related service to a prisoner or person
1-18 kept under guard, that entity or person may seek payment for the
1-19 services only from the prisoner or person or from a natural person
1-20 who is responsible for the support of the prisoner or person <such
1-21 prisoner is an eligible county resident as defined in Section
1-22 61.002, Health and Safety Code, the county or hospital district
1-23 providing the services has a right of subrogation to the prisoner's
1-24 right of recovery from any source, limited to the cost of services
2-1 provided. A prisoner, unless the prisoner fully pays for the cost
2-2 of services received, shall remain obligated to reimburse the
2-3 county or hospital district for any medical, dental, or health
2-4 services provided, and the county or hospital district may apply
2-5 for reimbursement in the manner provided by Chapter 61, Health and
2-6 Safety Code. A county or hospital district shall have authority to
2-7 recover the amount expended in a civil action>.
2-8 (e) A county may provide medical, dental, or health-related
2-9 services to an indigent person who is a prisoner in a county jail
2-10 or is kept under guard in a county jail at a medical facility in
2-11 the jail or may obtain services for the prisoner or person from a
2-12 public hospital, hospital district, or mandated provider as defined
2-13 by Section 61.002, Health and Safety Code. An entity or person
2-14 performing a service under this subsection may seek reimbursement
2-15 in the manner provided by Chapter 61, Health and Safety Code.
2-16 (f) If a provider other than a medical facility in the
2-17 county jail, a public hospital, a hospital district, or a mandated
2-18 provider as defined by Section 61.002, Health and Safety Code,
2-19 provides emergency or trauma care or subsequent care to an indigent
2-20 person who is a prisoner in a county jail or a person who is kept
2-21 under guard in a county jail, the treatment is considered to be
2-22 charity care under Section 311.031, Health and Safety Code, and the
2-23 facility, hospital, hospital district, or mandated provider is not
2-24 required to reimburse the provider. If the condition of a prisoner
2-25 or person kept under guard stabilizes, the county may transfer the
2-26 prisoner to a public hospital, hospital district, or mandated
2-27 provider in the county as provided by Chapter 61, Health and Safety
3-1 Code, or other transfer law.
3-2 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
3-3 to the reimbursement for medical, dental, or health-related
3-4 services performed on or after the effective date of this Act.
3-5 Reimbursement for services performed before the effective date of
3-6 this Act is covered by the law in effect when the services were
3-7 performed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
3-8 purpose.
3-9 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.