Medicaid Reform Bill Moves in Senate

A day after the House readied its version of Medicaid reform for a final floor vote, the Senate Medicaid overhaul package moved through its first committee.

Although the overall bill sailed through in a unanimous vote, it did receive several amendments. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, tacked on a few amendments, but failed to get others on the bill that would have allowed managed-care companies to rely on the state to provide transportation to needy Medicaid patients and allow greater leeway for Community Care for the Elderly organizations to compete with for-profit companies. The transportation amendment failed in a voice vote, but the CCE amendment came up one vote shy of passing.

"We're not carving anything out, we just want to level the playing field. Why is it that we want to push out the nonprofits?" Fasano said.

But Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who is sponsoring SB 1972, wants all health-care providers in the Medicaid program, for-profit or nonprofit alike, to be financially sound.

"If you want to participate in Medicaid, you need to be solvent," Negron said.