Re: “State could soon release ill prisoners” (TNT, 7-31).

The Legislature recently approved House Bill 2194. It revises a law pertaining to the early release of a prisoner from the Department of Corrections if the prisoner “has a medical condition that is serious and is expected to require costly care of treatment.”

I’m not making any evaluation about the compassion of releasing these prisoners. The law was passed to save money for the state – not to be compassionate.

One revision in the law changed a requirement for release from “Granting the extraordinary medical placement will result in a cost savings to the state” to “It is expected that granting …”

I’m not sure who’s expecting the savings. When the fiscal notes attached to the bill are reviewed, the expectation of savings is destroyed. More disturbing, the total cost to the taxpayer is greatly increased (by some 192 percent in the 2009-11 biennium to some 385 percent for each of the next two biennia).

For the years 2009-11, the estimated costs for the Department of Social and Health Services to pick up the health care of released prisoners exceed the savings for the DOC by some $706,000.

When the estimated Medicaid cost is added, the projected addi tional total cost to the taxpayers grows to almost $3 million.

It gets worse. For the years 2011-13 and 2013-15, the projected additional costs just to the state exceed $3 million each biennium while the total projected additional cost to taxpayers (adding Medicaid) exceeds $8.5 million.

We hear much about how the money-grubbing medical insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms are driving up costs. Here is an example where several government agencies are doing it themselves without any help from the private sector.

Knowing what we know, it appears to me that the release of any prisoner based on this law will violate it because there is, in fact, no expectation of cost savings to the state.

I have contacted state Sen. Derek Kilmer and state Reps. Larry Seaquist and Jan Angel. All three voted against this bill for various reasons.

I suggest each taxpayer contact their state senator and representatives to have them explain how they voted on the bill and why. Then suggest this program be stopped – unless the increasing costs make sense to you and you want to increase your tax burden.

Karl Kreitzer of Gig Harbor is a retired insurance company executive. He has been a hospice volunteer and served on the citizens advisory board for the Pierce County Department of Community Services. He is a certified mediator with the Pierce County Center for Dispute Resolution.