Despite the conclusion that the county was responsible for the health care of the individual in question, however, the opinion indicated that the state would be responsible if the indigent had been treated for tuberculosis. We think that implication is correct and that it applies to article 3196a as well as article 4477-11. Code s 4.02. Those provisions state that counties and public hospitals are payors of the last resort and are not responsible if other adequate public or private sources of payment are available. Those provisions make clear that the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act was not intended to relieve other public entities of any obligations to provide health care.
All hospital districts are subject to the provisions of the statutes under which they are created.
Prepared by Sarah Woelk Assistant Attorney General Footnotes FN1. The Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act does not affect the obligations of hospital districts. Therefore, we will consider your question about hospital districts separately. A county is obligated to provide health care assistance to eligible residents only to the extent prescribed by the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. Although you do not raise the issue, it has been suggested that article IX, section 9, prohibits the state from spending money for medical care for needy inhabitants of a hospital district.