Medicaid Reform – Florida

Florida Medicaid overhaul dies, By Jim Saunders, April 26, 2010, Miami Herald: “With differences remaining between the House and Senate — and a possible veto by Gov. Charlie Crist looming — an overhaul of Florida’s Medicaid system will not pass this year, legislative leaders said Sunday. ‘It looks like major reform isn’t going to happen this year,’ said Rep. Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican who has been a House leader on the issue. Cannon and House Health Care Appropriations Chairwoman Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, said they expect to bring back the issue during the 2011 legislative session. The House proposed a sweeping plan that gradually would have led to almost all Medicaid recipients enrolling in managed-care plans, while the Senate proposed a smaller expansion of a pilot managed-care program. ‘I really think that what we did is good policy,’ Grimsley said. ‘But at the end of the day, if we don’t pass it this year, the sun will still rise on May 1 (the day after the legislative session ends).’ Cannon pointed to differences between the House and Senate as the main reason that a Medicaid overhaul will not pass. But Senate Ways and Means Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said aides to Crist made clear that the governor did not like parts of the House proposal and likely would veto it…”