Medicaid Costs – Florida

Posted on March 30, 2012 by townsend

• Gov. Rick Scott signs Medicaid billing changes; may cost counties $326 million, By Tia Mitchell, March 29, 2012, Miami Herald: “Against the wishes of counties and tea party leaders, Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial bill into law Thursday that will change the way counties are billed for Medicaid costs and could set up a legal showdown. If nothing changes, counties could be forced to pay the state an additional $325.5 million in the coming years in disputed Medicaid bills. ‘Nobody really knows what this is going to mean to our budget,’ said Gretchen Harkins, Broward County director of intergovernmental affairs. The Florida Association of Counties has convened a task force to recommend future steps, such as seeking an injunction or filing a lawsuit. Scott took the unusual step of submitting a letter to the Secretary of State’s office explaining why he signed the bill, HB 5301. Scott acknowledged the counties’ concerns and vowed to work with them to resolve years of disagreements with the Agency for Health Care Administration on how much they owe for Medicaid…”
• Fla. leaders fear spike in Medicaid costs, By John Kennedy, March 30, 2012, Palm Beach Post: “For Florida Gov. Rick Scott and leading Republican legislators, winding through the thicket of legal arguments and ideology surrounding the Affordable Care Act usually lands them on a single issue: Money. The Affordable Care Act expands the number of people eligible for Medicaid while also raising the minimum coverage. Workers losing jobs and health coverage during the economic downturn already swelled the ranks of low-income, elderly and disabled Floridians covered by the state-federal program from 2.1 million in 2007 to 3 million this year, and the number is forecast to grow to 5 million by 2020 under the new law. The federal government will absorb all of the initial expansion costs, but states will have to start paying a percentage in 2016 if they want to draw federal money . The states’ share for those becoming eligible under the new law will max out at 10 percent in 2020, but even that, state officials say, is expected to be an extra $1 billion in Florida…”