By Sascha Cordner
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Tallahassee, FL – An agency that provided oversight on the state's prison medical services recently shut down, due to no funding from the Legislature. As Sascha Cordner reports, while opponents of the Florida Correctional Medical Authority say it was an outdated system, supporters say its shutdown will open the door to lawsuits against the state.
The Florida Correctional Medical Authority is an independent entity created in 1992 to oversee and monitor the health care services of Florida's prisons. It was a result of a costly lawsuit that went on for more than 20 years about providing adequate prison health care. Judge Susan Black, who presided over that class action lawsuit, says the Federal Courts turned the supervision of the prison health care services over to the CMA because of its good work. But, as of Mid-August, the CMA went away:
"My concern is the loss of the CMA as an independent watchdog will expose the state to a resumption of the same conditions that prevailed at the time the Costello versus Wainwright class action lawsuit was first filed and this is an enormously expensive proposition to our state."
John Bailey is former Chairman of the CMA Board, a voluntary board appointed by the Governor that has experience in health care issues. But, the board had to disband because the Authority was no more, due to no funds from the Legislature. Republican State Representative Matt Hudson of Naples and most of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee members spearheaded the elimination of the agency. They said it would save the state about 800-thousand dollars. But, State Representative Mark Pafford of West Palm Beach, a Democratic member of the committee, thinks that was money well spent.
"We're a state that is seeing tremendous budgetary issue. Sometimes a little an investment at one end results in a better outcome and a less expensive outcome. You know, 700-thousand to 800-thousand is a lot of money. But, I think the Governor would agree, it is an investment well-worth making."
And, Governor Rick Scott did agree! He tried several times to keep the agency going. He vetoed the bill that did not appropriate funds for the CMA. He also tried to put the CMA under the Department of Corrections so it could get funds that way. But, the Legislative Budget Commission, which had the final say on the matter, did not go along. Despite that, Scott says he has hopes of bringing back the agency.
"The Legislature did not think that was worthwhile. I disagreed. I thought that it was good for our prisons system. So, I'm hopeful that we can go back next session and resurrect it, but right now, they don't see the value of it."
A spokesman for the Governor's office says Scott saw it as a financially sound decision because a lawsuit is going to cost more than it does to fund the CMA. Democratic Senator Arthenia Joyner of Tampa feels the same way.
"If something happens, there'll be tons of lawsuits. We could end up having to spend money that we don't need to spend, when all we need to do is spend enough money to keep this entity operational. But, right now, we need an immediate fix to keep these people on the job."
Former Executive Director of the CMA Murdina Campbell is one of the six employees who lost her job, after the CMA closed. She cites a recent Supreme Court case in California as an example of what may happen to the state in the future.
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California does need to early release something like between 30 to 40-thousand inmates because their overcrowding situation has led to medical neglect and the Supreme Court decided that California couldn't guarantee that it was providing minimally adequate health care to its inmates."
House Speaker Dean Cannon, House Appropriations Committee Chair Denise Grimsley, and State Representative Matt Hudson, who were in favor of shutting down the CMA, could not be reached for comment. But, during this past Legislative Session, Hudson stood before members of the House, urging them to pull the plug on the Correctional medical Authority.
"Think about where you were at 20 years ago, think about the changes that have occurred in that period of time. Now, think about what's happened to health care in that same 20 years. We do not need this antiquated, outdated system of checks and balances, which quite frankly even in its present form does not work very well."
Other lawmakers, like Senator Joyner and Representative Pafford, say the Governor can still try to at least issue an executive order to revive the CMA, but the Governor says he's waiting to see what happens during the next session before he makes any further decisions. Senate Budget Chief JD Alexander says during the 2012 session, lawmakers will re-consider the issue. Until then, the agency that's been around for 26 years will remain closed.