In that report, Lampert wrote that the $4 million request was a “one-time” ask. Going forward, he said, hepatitis C treatment will be part of the state’s contract with the independent medical company that provides treatment to inmates.

Lampert told lawmakers that the change was conforming with the community standard.

“The developing community standard is to treat everyone regardless of the deterioration level of their levels,” Corrections Department spokesman Mark Horan wrote in a follow-up email.

Lampert noted in his presentation to lawmakers that several other states had been sued — and had lost — for not providing treatment to all inmates. It was costing some states tens of millions of dollars. Florida, he said, was paying $252 million for hepatitis C treatment.

Rep. Bob Nicholas, who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee, asked about the lawsuits and directed the attorney general’s office to look into them more. Lampert said that if treatment is delayed, patients may need liver transplants, which “would bust our budget.”

Nicholas wondered aloud if the state could selectively expand Medicaid to cover inmates, which would, in turn, shift the cost to covering all the patients onto both the state and the federal government.