Sen. Joe Negron's Vision for Medicaid: Mend It, Don't End It

Hoping to redesign the state's budget-busting Medicaid system, state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, dismissed any notion that Florida would opt out of the program.

A Sunshine State News story on Thursday quoted Heritage Foundation research estimating that Tallahassee would save $28 billion over five years if the state left Medicaid and routed recipients into subsdized insurance exchanges with the introduction of Obamacare in 2014.

Negron said he had seen the cost-saving estimates, but rejected the "opt-out" option.

"We're taking a sheet of blank paper and we're trying to fix a broken system," Negron said after a four-hour meeting on Medicaid reform proposals Wednesday.