Ala. Code § 22-21-211
It is the legislative intent and purpose of this article that the Hospital Service Program for Indigents provided for in this article shall be a program designed and administered so as to provide hospitalization for those residents of the State of Alabama who are ill or injured and who can be helped markedly by treatment in a hospital, but who are clearly unable to meet the cost of such hospitalization from their own resources or from the resources of those upon whom they are legally dependent. It is not intended that the program shall be burdened by attempting to provide purely domiciliary care for persons with permanently disabling diseases or illnesses or with chronic diseases or illnesses, such as tuberculosis or mental disorders, which are already provided for under any special program of the State of Alabama or of the United States. It is also not intended that this article shall be compulsory on any county except during such time as the county agrees, in the manner prescribed in this article, to participate in the program.
Ala. Code § 22-21-211 (1975)