COUNTY: ADDICTS TREATED AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE SHOULD PAY

People addicted to alcohol and drugs who receive treatment at taxpayer
expense should be required to repay that debt, Lincoln County commissioners
contend.

They voted during their meeting last month to send a letter to State Rep.
Dub Williams, a Republican from Glencoe, asking him to draft legislation
that would require reimbursement once a person is working, in much the same
way as student loans that must be repaid.

Commissioner Rick Simpson proposed the action as a follow-up to a vote in
June that included the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center as an eligible
health care provider to be reimbursed from the county's indigent care fund.
The money for that fund comes from a county gross receipts tax.

Simpson said those receiving the treatment are "drug addicts and alcoholics
the judge is tired of looking at and commits into the system. The state
previously paid for it, but now they want to take the money out of the
county indigent fund."

The program is expensive, he said, at a cost of $7,000 for 21 days. However,
county indigent fund coordinator Rhonda Burrows said the county has a cap
for that treatment of $1,000 per patient in a physical year.

But Simpson said whatever government entity provides the money doesn't
really matter, because the same taxpayers cough up the money.

"Although I didn't then and still don't approve of it now, I voted for
(adding the center to the list) anyway because we don't have a better system
in place," he said. "The fact that there are people out there who need this
treatment is a given. I'm not saying they should be denied treatment. The
problem I have is with using tax money to do it."

If addiction truly is a disease, Simpson said it's a self-inflicted disease.

"This is not like West Nile virus where you get bitten by a mosquito and
after an incubation period, you're one sick puppy," he said.

"This starts out with people out partying and doing drugs, some of them
probably illegal, and after they've done that for several years, they
develop a habit they can't break.

"There are some of us who accepted responsibility, went home early so we
could get up in the morning and go to work. Some won't touch alcohol or
illegal drugs. Yet, these are the kinds of people who end up paying for the
treatment of those who do."

While government can't deny giving a "hands up" to someone to help them
become a productive member of society, the person should be held
responsible, the commissioner said.

Students who use federal loans to attend college are required to pay back
that money with interest after graduating and becoming employed, he pointed
out.

"The (federal) government will do whatever it takes to collect that money,"
he said. "Why does one group get a free ride while another doesn't? Whatever
happened to fair and equal treatment for everyone?"

He said he talked to Williams about proposing a similar system for addiction
treatment and the state representative said he would help draft and then
carry the bill to the state Legislature.

Although Commissioner Leo Martinez said he supported the concept and would
like to see prisoners in the county jail also be required to reimburse for
their care, he added that the effort probably is futile. We can't even get
dead beat dads to pay (child support)." However, Commissioner Maury St. John
successfully offered a motion to send a letter asking for the legislation.

"A year ago people said we couldn't get indigent health wording (in the
state law) changed to say outpatient (care would be included as an eligible
reimbursement), but we did," St. John said. "I think it's worth a try."

Simpson said it may take a long time to get results, but the letter would be
a start.

Burrows said although she doesn't disagree with the request to Williams,
other issues may surface such as if a county employee would be asked to pay
back insurance premiums paid by the county, if addiction treatment was
sought.

The county would end up paying less to put an addict in treatment with the
$1,000 cap for 21 days than keeping them in county jail, she pointed out.

On the other side, "There's a lot of literature that says if you make people
take responsibility, they will do better," she told commissioners. Even if
another government entity pays, such as the state, taxpayers are the
ultimate source, Simpson said.

Ken Nosker of San Patricio recalled that in the past 20 years, the state
increased taxes on alcoholic beverages three times "and sold it by saying
that money would take care of people with alcohol problems for treatment."

The state continues to collect 9.5 cents for every ounce of beer sold, he
said. "Yet they need more money," Nosker said. "Ask them what happened to
that tax earmarked for alcoholics."

St. John requested that question be included in the letter to Williams.