CORRECTIONS DIRECTOR Jon Ozmint is right to abandon efforts to privatize prison health care after learning during negotiations that it would not result in significant cost savings.

Mr. Ozmint said last week the department was not able to strike a deal that would provide a level of savings that justifies changing from the state system to a private system.

That says a lot about the cost and efficiency of the state’s system. It delivers service at less cost than many other states — cheaper than most of the approximately 30 that have privatized their medical care. While it has its faults, the Palmetto State’s prison medical system works fairly well, fiscally speaking. Corrections spends about $2,500 a year on each inmate for medical expenses, Mr. Ozmint said.

When he first began considering privatization, Mr. Ozmint said he felt the state could get a better price and better coverage by privatizing. But after two months of negotiating, he found that wasn’t so.

We objected when Mr. Ozmint began negotiations with potential firms. We felt it was premature to do so ahead of a study of current medical services authorized by lawmakers. The Budget and Control Board has asked the University of South Carolina to conduct the study, which is to include a cost-benefit analysis and a determination as to whether privatization is cost-efficient.

Mr. Ozmint’s rush to negotiate a deal had us concerned that too much emphasis was being placed on cost alone and on Gov. Mark Sanford’s passion for privatization.

While cost is important, it should not be the only factor when it comes to delivering vital government services. The real problem with the prison system is that it is — and long has been — woefully underfunded and the Legislature has no political will to change that. The Legislature is unwilling to pay the true cost of running prisons or to reduce the number of nonviolent inmates in our prisons. Instead, it has passed laws that send about 1,000 additional inmates into the prisons each year, without the resources to handle that greater load.

As far as the practice of privatization goes, there may well be some government services that can and should be farmed out. But we should never take the position that privatization is always good. Nor should we believe it is always bad.

It had seemed the governor and Mr. Ozmint were determined to privatize health care no matter what. It is a relief to see that in the end pragmatism won out over ideology. It turns out Corrections officials took a practical approach and made the right decision as stewards of the state’s affairs.

When Corrections first began considering privatization, we said Mr. Ozmint must present compelling evidence that the change would result in better, more efficient health care delivered in a manner consistent with governmental principles. Upon learning he could not, he decided privatization is not the way to go after all.

The governor has said he will continue to look for savings, as well he should. But he and the Legislature should simultaneously be working on how to fund Corrections if no further reasonable cuts can be found.