Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday reversed his position on Medicaid expansion again as he announced he will not support providing access to health care for 800,000 uninsured Floridians as called for under the federal health care law.
After Florida Politics reported the governor’s office would not answer questions on Medicaid expansion Friday his office released this statement:
“Our priority is to cut more than $600 million in taxes this session and get K-12 education funding up to record levels while holding the line on college tuition,” Scott said in the prepared statement.
“We still have several weeks left for budget negotiations; however, given that the federal government said they would not fund the federal LIP program to the level it is funded today, it would be hard to understand how the state could take on even more federal programs that CMS could scale back or walk away from.”
Medicaid expansion has resurfaced in the Florida Legislature because of its link to the federal Low Income Pool, commonly called LIP. The money is mostly from federal and county sources — with some general revenue — and is used to help supplement hospitals for providing uncompensated care.
The $2 billion program expires this summer and Florida initially was trying to increase the amount of the program to $4.5 billion. The federal government, which has been negotiating with the state for months, has advised Florida that any program that is approved to replace LIP would be less than the current $2.1 billion the state receives.
The Florida Senate has included LIP funding and a Medicaid expansion in its proposed budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, but the House has included neither. The federal health care funding is the main reason the two chambers are $4 billion apart in their proposed spending plans.
Florida has received the supplemental Medicaid payments for the past nine years. They were initially secured by then-Gov. Jeb Bush and approved by the George W. Bush administration.
Scott made his political name opposing the federal health care law by financing an anti-Obamacare ad campaign under the moniker Conservatives for Patients Rights. After being elected governor, Scott in 2013 reversed his position on Medicaid expansion saying he supported the idea so long as the federal government picked up the entire tab.
Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act is funded completely by the federal government through 2016.
Scott is reportedly is interested in seeking a U.S. Senate seat in 2018.
