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YIKES! Overlooked from @GovRonDeSantis budget veto was $28 MILLION in court-ordered funding to treat humans (also known as inmates) with Hep C in our state prisons. Unfortunately, @FL_Corrections knowingly allowed them to go untreated for years, making the Hep C outbreak worse…
In 2017, affected humans sued the state since they were only offering Hep C treatment to inmates who were symptomatic. That caused more people to get Hep C both in and outside our prisons. The state LOST and was forced to pay millions to treat everyone. https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/2019/04/19/long-and-sordid-history-of-neglect-judge-demands-florida-must-treat-all-inmates-with-hepatitis-c/
Rather than do the right and moral thing, Florida appealed the decision. $28M was set aside by the legislature for treatment of early stage Hep C, hoping they'd win on appeal & wouldn't have to pay to treat inmates after all. https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/05/23/florida-pushes-back-in-prison-hepatitis-legal-battle/
Then a pandemic hit, so the legislature said $28M can also be used for #COVID in our prisons. As revenues plunged, @GovRonDeSantis issued $543M in corporate tax refunds. 23 inmates died of COVID, but treating inmates w/Hep C or w/COVID didn't seem important, so it got VETOED.
P.S. The state never would have been forced to pay possibly hundreds of millions to treat humans in state prisons with Hep C, hhad they tested/treated inmates from the beginning. The longer you wait, the more it costs. Bad decisions cost taxpayers money. https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/08/08/not-cruel-and-unusual-florida-refuses-to-treat-all-inmates-diagnosed-with-hepatitis-c/
*had they tested/treated
