County Seeks Help With Debt Collection

The trend in local government is to seek help from debt collection agencies in recouping unpaid funds that seriously play havoc with legislative budgets ? and Idaho?s Cassia County is no different.

In an Associated Press story, Cassia County commissioners are looking for help collecting unpaid debt.

Commission Paul Christensen says the county is having a hard time keeping up with a growing number of unpaid indigent medical care cases. The indigent medical care program helps cover health care bills for low-income residents. It covers as much as 60 percent of the health care costs, and the residents are supposed to pay back the remainder to the county.

Commissioners are considering working with a collection agency to recover that unpaid debt. Nearby Twin Falls County already works with a local collection agency, and officials there say the practice has been successful.