Audit: Privatizing Florida’s Prison Health Care Was Costly and Deadly Mistake
When former Florida Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011, he pushed to privatize health care for Florida prisoners. He promised the move would save taxpayers millions of dollars and it did, at least until 2014. An audit ordered by the state legislature found that since those initial savings, privatization has cost many millions more.
“The contracts the [Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC)] entered into between 2012 and 2015, while they saved substantial amounts of money, resulted in substantial reductions in service,” said Karl Becker, senior vice president at CGL Companies and one of the audit’s authors. “Those savings you achieved during that time, you are probably paying for now” through lawsuits and increased costs.
FDOC was the subject of a class-action lawsuit that challenged the conditions of confinement, and the provision of medical care was a large feature of that suit. It took a while, but FDOC turned things around and had in place a very adequate medical system. Then Scott, the former CEO of Columbia/HCA, a giant health care company that was fined $1.7 billion for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid while Scott was in charge, became Florida’s governor. His agenda was to privatize as much of government as possible, arguing it would achieve savings and upgrade services.
With a prison system that holds about 100,000 prisoners and a $2.2 billion budget, lawmakers were game to privatization. Yet the move to was puzzling for FDOC, at the legislature’s direction, had attempted from 2001 to 2006 to privatize its Region 4 health care. That effort with Wexford Health Sources failed due to the usual issues with privatization: “reductions in staffing, dramatic decreases in episodes of outside care, and the number of prisoner grievances about the poor quality of health service care,” according to the audit.
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The last 8 months of my husband’s incarceration was in a special dementia unit run by the Department of Children and Family Services. The unit was well run and protected people like my husband who have dementia and are targeted by the general population. This unit was formed only because of a lawsuit brought against FDOC several years ago. If that lawsuit had not been filed, my husband would have spent all 24 months of incarceration in the “hell hole” he was placed in at Apalachee Correctional Institute, East Unit. Florida in some ways is no better than a third world country.
I have always been a strong conservative Republican, but it has been the Republicans who have done this to us. Looking to Democrats now.
SarahF,
Don’t be so quick to jump on the Democrat side. They are no better. And they’re also the “just believe her” side. They want people put in prison without any evidence other than “she said”.
When it comes to politics, neither side is going to change anything bad that happens to those with sexual offenses. We’ve said it time and time again that it would be “political suicide” for them. Both parties.
Sarah, I too have been a lifetime Republican but I am more and more often starting to question for what purpose many Republicans are running for office and are they there to serve the citizens they represent or are they there to promote themselves? Are they there to build up or tear down various groups of citizens? Many seem to be oblivious to facts. And many who vote for them let fear and paranoia make decisions for them. Then we have the Democrats who support an agenda of abandonment of self responsibility and try to buy votes using taxpayer money while supporting policies and laws that smack in the face of our Judeo/Christian national foundations. I could never support their agenda. Maybe it’s time to start a write-in campaign for Alfred E. Newman. At times not being able to vote may be a blessing. My conscience would lead me away from both parties.
States just need to stop privatizing everything. Even school lunches aren’t safe. It’s ALWAYS cheaper to do the work in house.
I have been a Republican all my life but I have always been suspect of Rick Scott. When it comes to medical care he is part of the problem. He is a big player in keeping citizens from voting. I am now starting to suspect DeSantis of being a friend of the few and a victim of social paranoia rather than an advocate of facts. Unfortunately that applies to far too many of today’s politicians. They serve to serve themselves and place common sense is the trash dump of the past.
yea and his wife would buy more stocks in these companies. all crooked scott did was line his pocket
It’s never been good at all, but this is just more Florida corruption.
And the Good Ole Boy system still lives on today. Rick Scott is basicly an organized crime figure. He ripped off the goverment, plead the 5th about 55 times under oath and got super rich and never spent a day in Jail. And what do voting Americans do? They vote him into the Senate.. Meanwhile hes responsible for hurting a lot of people in our state prison system. But did him stealing and hurting people stop him from being elected to even more power? Nope.. Welce to American politics 101..