Florida takes U-turn on Medicaid expansion
Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, one of the most ardent foes of the health reform law, has reversed his healthcare strategy and will expand the state's Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.
Scott, a former hospital executive, said in his announcement Wednesday that the expansion is limited to three years at the outset, a period in which the federal government will pay 100 percent of adding eligible individuals up to 133 percent of the poverty line.
[Also: Republican governors seek presidential pow-wow on Medicaid expansion]
After three years, the currently Republican-controlled state legislature would have to re-authorize it. After 2017, the federal government will trim back some of its funding until 2020 when it will settle at 90 percent of the costs.
Scott, who is up for re-election next year, called his U-turn on the health reform law a "compassionate, common sense step forward" but "not a white flag of surrender to government-run healthcare."
"Our options are either having Floridians pay to fund this program in other states while denying health care to our citizens or using federal funding to help some of the poorest in our state with the Medicaid program as we explore other healthcare reforms," Scott said in his announcement.
[Also: CMS to states: Partial Medicaid expansion won't qualify for full funding]
Scott received conditional approval for a waiver from the Health and Human Services Department for additional flexibility in covering Florida's Medicaid population in private sector managed care plans to better coordinate care and help prevent hospital visits. The state has piloted managed care plans in five counties with mixed results and some criticism.
Scott is not the first Republican governor previously opposed to the health reform law who has reversed position on the Medicaid expansion. Governors in Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio preceded Scott in signing up their states for the expansion. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that as of Feb. 20, states supporting the Medicaid expansion number 25, while 16 still oppose it and 10 are still weighing their options.
