County resolves inmate care case

County resolves inmate care case

Published: April 19, 2008

By DAVID BATES
Of the News-Register

Yamhill County is off the hook for Gustavo Rogelio Mercado-Murillo's medical bills.

The issue was resolved Thursday afternoon, shortly after the News-Register broke a story in print and online reporting the county was facing $6,000 or more a week in kidney dialysis expense.

Mercado is a felony sex crimes suspect who's in the country illegally. Three times a week, he has to undergo dialysis for a kidney condition, and the treatments run at least $2,000 apiece.

Prior to his April 10 arrest, he was covered by the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool, which insures children and adults who have been denied coverage elsewhere because of a pre-existing condition.

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon is the pool's contract insurer. It handles eligibility, enrollment and claims issues.

As of November, the 18-year-old pool was serving 18,600 Oregonians, according to its website. But when Mercado was arrested, the pool cut him off.

Given his illegal status and the nature of the charges he was facing, that put county officials in a bind: They didn't want to release him, figuring he would flee back to his native Mexico and thus escape justice. But they also knew the jail's medical services budget couldn't be stretched to cover $300,000 a year in medical expenses for a single inmate.

Earlier this week, they huddled with Yamhill County Circuit Judge Ronald Stone, who was inclined to move Mercado to a Salem facility for parolees being integrated back into the community and depend on an ankle bracelet and GPS tracking to keep him from taking flight.

Then Assistant County Counsel Rick Sanai started delving into the legal fine print. He discovered pool regulations cut off a patient only when he "becomes an in-patient or inmate at a state of Oregon correctional or mental institution," language he felt couldn't be stretched to cover a county jail.

He proceeded to engage in a telephone conference with Oregon Medical Insurance Pool executives and attorneys. He said it lasted "a very long time," but he eventually prevailed.

Within an hour, Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree got written confirmation from the pool that Mercado's policy, which was paid up through July 1, would be reinstated.

"The insurance company erred in canceling this guy's insurance," Crabtree said Wednesday. "The dilemma is resolved."

That was a big relief to the sheriff, who had been bracing himself for criticism stemming from Mercado's immigration status. Earlier this month, he said, he fielded some complaints just because one of his captains testified at a council hearing in Willamina that the county couldn't and wouldn't enforce a local ordinance targeting illegal immigrants.

"Sometimes I have people raise concerns that we're 'protecting' them," Crabtree said. "But the fact is that right now there's an Oregon statute that says I can't use taxpayer dollars to enforce immigration laws in any way, shape or form."

Besides, he said, "From a budgetary standpoint, this would have been just as catastrophic if he'd been here legally. Whether you're here legally or illegally, there's a certain number of people who commit crimes, and it's a burden to taxpayers."

Federal immigration officials have put a hold on Mercado, which means that once his case is resolved - and that could have to wait until he completes a lengthy prison term, given the severity of the charges he's facing - he will be transferred to federal custody to await deportation.

McMinnville resident Jim Ludwick, who heads Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said Friday that regardless of who's paying for Mercado's medical care, it represents a huge cost to society as a whole.

"It's a frustration that many people have that we're paying the load for people who shouldn't be here and who aren't contributing," he said.

http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=233835