Vance County Jail to charge medical copays starting Feb. 1

On Thursday, the Vance County Jail will charge incarcerated people a $10 copay for non-emergency medical care.

County manager Renee Perry says she expects the policy to minimize what she calls the misuse of the correctional health care system. She says the new rule will allow health professionals more time to tend to those with true needs.

“We have certain situations that people have gotten arrested just to come to jail to have dental work or health care. it’s just kind of helping mediate that,” finance director Katherine Bigelow said in a Nov. 2023 county commissioner’s meeting.

Social activist Kerwin Pittman believes these copays are a step in the wrong direction. He was incarcerated for 11.5 years and said he had his own experiences with copays while serving his time.

“On its face, $5 to $20 may not seem like a lot to us. But when you are incarcerated, and you’re only making 40 cents a day, this is a lot of money for copaying and medical attention,” he said.

Pittman said he believes copays can deter people from getting the treatment they need.

“They may just try to sit and ride the wave, which ultimately may spread the disease even faster. So, it is a bad combination and a bad decision,” he said. “What I don’t want to see is a spread in this mentality of ‘Well, since they put themselves in here, then we’re going to not give them the assistance that they need unless they can pay for it.’’

Wanda Bertram, the spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative, agrees.

“People in jail are a population that has a way higher incidence of chronic illnesses than people on the outside. Oftentimes, those illnesses are the reason why they ended up in jail,” she said.

Vance County commissioners discussed the issue several times before a unanimous vote in favor of the resolution earlier this month.

“It’ll be determined by the nurse and doctor on staff, whether it is emergent, or nonemergent,” Bigelow said in a Nov. 2023 county commissioner’s meeting.

Bertram said the Vance County’s copay is much higher than the most that she’s seen across the country.

“The copays we’ve seen in prisons and jails across the country tend to be $3-5…For people who are not making any money at all, it can be an active deterrent. It amounts to several hours, even several days, of prison labor.”

The county has been $559,952 over budget over the last 5 years. The county is on track to be $1,000,000 over budget in FY 2024. A large reason for that: is a contract, signed in 2023, with a new health provider after the previous one backed out of a deal with short notice.

Perry said incarcerated people will still be seen and treated, as the county cannot deny medical care.