Christine Jordan Sexton
Elizabeth “Liz” Dudek, a longtime state health care planner and administrator and now head of the state’s Medicaid agency, will appear before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee when it meets Wednesday.
Though it’s Dudek’s second step in the Senate confirmation process, it’s the first time she’ll appear before the Senate since her boss, Gov. Rick Scott, reversed his position on Medicaid expansion, saying the federal government couldn’t be trusted.
Senate President Andy Gardiner said this week he and the Senate won’t slow down Scott’s appointments because of the difference in health care positions, and that he has “a tremendous amount of respect for her.
While Scott opposes Medicaid expansion Gardiner has made expansion and continuation of Low Income Pool dollars a top priority.
Another of Scott’s appointees, Department of Health Secretary and state Surgeon General John Armstrong, refused to answer the Senate Health Policy Committee’s questions on Medicaid expansion and whether he supported the Senate proposal to expand Medicaid called FHIX. The committee delayed action on confirming him.
The same committee swiftly approved Dudek’s confirmation one week earlier before negotiations over Low Income Pool were thrown off track. Sens. Eleanor Sobel and Oscar Braynon told the Democratic Caucus last week that all senators should ask Dudek her positions on Medicaid expansion and the Senate’s proposal to draw down federal funds.
