Medicaid Reform – Florida

Posted on November 18, 2010 by townsend

• Fla. lawmakers mull how to transform Medicaid into managed health care for poor, By Kathleen Haughney, November 17, 2010, Palm Beach Post: “Florida’s newly installed lawmakers Wednesday began considering ways to cut what they fear could be a $20 billion Medicaid bill in the coming year, including shuttling more low income patients into private managed care programs and setting caps on the amount of money spent on each patient. Key senators held a six-hour meeting Wednesday on the heels of passing a non-binding message to Congress Tuesday that said the legislature intends to revamp the state’s Medicaid program by expanding the state’s five-county managed-care pilot program statewide. Since the summer, Senate President Mike Haridopolos and his top legislative lieutenants have been promising to overhaul the system during the 2011 legislative session…”
• Can Florida really alter Medicaid?, By Jim Saunders, November 18, 2010, Kaiser Health News: “Florida Republican leaders made a clear statement during a special legislative session Tuesday: They want to overhaul the Medicaid program and don’t want the federal government tying their hands. But that might ignore Washington realities. Congress this year required states to increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid in the future — the opposite of giving Florida more flexibility to run the program. What’s more, federal officials won’t agree to a relatively straightforward extension of Florida’s Medicaid ‘Reform’ pilot, which required thousands of beneficiaries to enroll in managed care plans. Instead, the federal government will require changes in the pilot…”