Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Christine Jordan SextonJune 23, 2015

Just hours after Gov. Rick Scott quietly signed a state spending plan into effect, the federal government gave Florida a long-awaited “agreement in principle” letter that all but formalizes an agreement between Florida and the federal government on hospital funding for the next year. The coveted agreement, which the state had hoped to secure in April […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 15, 2015

Health plans that have been participating in the mandatory Medicaid managed-care program unfurled in Florida a little more than one year ago will be getting some pay increases in the coming months. A draft copy of the new rates shows that for the non-elderly population plans will, on average, have a 6.4 percent increase in rates […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 6, 2015

Budget conferees have agreed to target $400 million in recurring general revenue to hospitals and, as of Saturday morning, to not fund graduate medical education. Eliminating the funding — a $100 million concession for the Florida Senate — is a “work in progress” Sen. Rene Garcia said. Rep. Matt Hudson quickly agreed. “It’s certainly not off […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 5, 2015

The Florida Senate was in session for less than five minutes on Friday before adjourning. Senate President Andy Gardiner announced that the House and Senate had agreed to budget allocations and that the two chambers would begin hammering out the differences in the proposed spending plans for the 2015-16 fiscal year beginning at 9 a.m. […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 3, 2015

It was not unanimous but the Florida Senate on Wednesday passed a bill off the floor to use Medicaid funding under the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, to expand access to health care for low income uninsured Floridians. Passed by a 33-3 vote, SB 2-A was amended and debated the same day so it […]

Ryan RayJune 3, 2015

The intense intra-cameral friction that defined the 2015 Legislative Session seems not to have dissipated after a few weeks off but rather compounded, culminating in the most antagonistic legislative hearing of the year at Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee. There, budget chief Tom Lee led a chorus of indignant senators who excoriated AHCA deputy director Justin […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 2, 2015

The Senate’s plan to expand access to health care access may not pass during the 2015A special session but the Florida Senate isn’t going down without a fight. The Senate Appropriations Committee members on Tuesday grilled Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Justin Senior for more than one hour, making it abundantly clear that the Senate did […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 1, 2015

Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Justin Senior had a busy day Monday. Not only was Senior making a presentation at the House Health and Human Services Committee, he spent time on the telephone with officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services discussing Florida’s new Low Income Pool proposal and Florida’s proposed plan to put […]

Christine Jordan SextonMay 31, 2015

FloridaΓÇÖs_Historic_Capitol_and_Florida_State_Capitol_2-1024x1024.jpg

The 2015 Special Session-A kicks off Monday. Here are five questions to consider going into the Special Session, which was called by House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner despite not having reached any agreement on the budget or spending in the month since the regular session came to a crashing end without […]

Christine Jordan SextonMay 29, 2015

The federal government has received Gov. Rick Scott‘s proposal to revamp the Low Income Pool and “continues to be engaged with Florida,” but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “has not communicated approval,” a spokesman for HHS said Friday. Ben Wakana said CMS is reviewing the proposal as well as the public comments and […]

Tag: Justin Senior

Budget signed, LIP deal formalized (sort of), health care done for now

Medicaid managed care plans getting rate increases

Chambers agree to $400 million in general revenue to hospitals, zero for doctor training (for now)

Finally … chambers set for Saturday conference on budget

Senate passes health care expansion bill by 33-3 vote

House-Senate health care fight inflected by Twitterverse

Justin Senior on the hot seat for AHCA’s negative analysis of Senate FHIX plan

Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Justin Senior pushing for quick LIP resolution

Five questions heading into Special Session

Washington has not signed off on Rick Scott’s new LIP proposal, feds say