The Smith County Commissioners Court voted July 1 to approve a memorandum of understanding with Health Plan Freedom, Inc. to help pretrial detainees enroll in a federal insurance program, officials said.

County Judge opened the agenda item requesting approval of the memorandum of understanding between Health Plan Freedom, Inc. (HPF) and Smith County and asked for a motion and second. Commissioner Drury moved to approve the MOU; Commissioner Harrold seconded. The motion passed after an oral vote in open session.

The agreement, as described by presenters, would allow pretrial detainees who qualify to be enrolled in coverage under what the transcript refers to as the “Affordable Healthcare Act.” Chief Jones, identifying the program, said the arrangement would be at no cost to the county and could produce savings in inmate medical bills. “I have a pretrial detainee that’s been in the hospital for several weeks, and his bill is at 75,000,” Chief Jones said. “So if we had this program in place … we’ll make and save 50,000 because he’s one of those that the charge is so severe that you can’t get him out.”

Commissioner Moore welcomed the exploration of options to address rising inmate-care costs and asked whether county staff had researched pending federal legislation that might affect the program. County staff responding to the court said they had not researched the unspecified congressional bill but said the company is signing jails around Texas and the United States.

The court did not specify enrollment eligibility criteria, the timeline to begin enrollments, or whether the county will incur any administrative costs under the MOU. The motion approved was to “approve the memorandum of understanding between Health Plan Freedom, Inc, HPF, and Smith County and authorize county judge to sign all related documentation.”

Officials did not provide written projections of expected budget savings at the meeting beyond the example given by Chief Jones. The court voted in open session to approve the MOU; no roll-call vote tally with individual member votes was recorded in the public portion of the transcript.

Next steps were not specified on the record during open session.