Rick Scott Wants 'Federal Action Right Now' on LIP

Gov. Rick Scott met with U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as the Florida Legislature continues to face a stalemate over the budget due to Medicaid expansion. Scott asked Burwell to offer Low Income Pool (LIP) funding in Florida even as the Legislature awaits a special session.

Today, I met with HHS Secretary Burwell and requested that HHS reconsider LIP funding in Florida so the Legislature has the information they need to develop a budget, Scott said on Wednesday. Before the session, HHS knew our budget timeline and they did not act to keep the LIP program. The federal government should not just completely cut off a federal health-care program for low-income Floridians that has been working for years. That is just wrong for Florida families. We want the HHS secretary to approve our LIP waiver. That is what we asked her to do today. I hope we made some progress, but we will only have real resolution on this when we get their official approval. We need that approval immediately so we can start a special session and pass a budget.

If we do not get any answer from CMS in the next few weeks, their inaction is the same as a no and we will prepare to go into a special session to do a base budget that keeps government running, Scott added. I told her that we need federal action right now. The low-income families in our state cannot wait on the federal government any longer.