Corpus Christi’s KRIS television reported this week that the Nueces County Hospital District is asking t
he Legislature to pass a bill that will allow them to recover money on behalf of taxpayers when those who receive “indigent” care later receive an insurance settlement windfall for that same care. The District estimates that it loses about a half million dollars every year as a result of this phenomenon.
Extrapolating this to the state’s population would mean that some $25 million in taxpayer funds could be recovered if the recipients of “free” health care who later received payment for this care had to pay taxpayers back. As government spending on health care continues to skyrocket, it only seems fair to bring this shell game of profiting on the backs of taxpayers to an end.
