Prison board approves health care deal

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Texas prison board has approved a $46.8 million deal to lease a handful of beds at a hospital in Huntsville.

This is the first time the Texas Board of Criminal Justice has used resources other than university health care providers to provide medical care for inmates.

The arrangement ratified Friday by the prison board meeting in Austin covers only nine beds at Huntsville Memorial Hospital .

Prison agency officials are promising to look elsewhere and negotiate on their own.

Continuing this agreement  of nearly 20 years has the potential to cost The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston tens of millions of dollars in unanticipated losses.

However, the co-pay for inmates was raised last September. The Texas of Criminal Justice section 501.063 of the Texas Government Code to increase co-pays from $3 to $100.

Board member J. David Nelson calls it "a landmark step" in reducing health care costs to prisoners.