Florida's red-hot battle over Medicaid expansion turned into a sizzle Thursday when Gov. Rick Scott announced the state would be suing President Obamas federal health-care agency for stopping Low Income Pool (LIP) health-care funds in order to force the Legislature to expand Medicaid in the Sunshine State.
It is appalling that President Obama would cut off federal health-care dollars to Florida in an effort to force our state further into Obamacare, said Scott Thursday. Not only does President Obamas end to LIP funding in Florida violate the law by crossing the line into a coercion tactic for Obamacare, it also threatens poor families access to the safety-net health care services they need."
Scott called the administrations move outrageous.
President Obama has decided that the state must take on a larger Medicaid program, forcing our taxpayers to pay even more to government, before they get their own federal tax dollars back, he said. This is ... specifically what the Supreme Court warned against.
The estimated cost would be $1.6 billion, with or without Medicaid expansion.
The Obama and Scott administrations have been involved in a back-and-forth over the LIP funds in recent weeks. LIP funds help hospitals statewide serve low-income patients and the issue has become one of the most divisive of this years legislative session.
Disagreements over the funds have resulted in vastly different state budgets in the House and Senate, which have essentially brought both chambers to a standstill.
Scotts original budget proposal released in January assumed the funds would be available -- but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in February that around $1.3 billion in Floridas LIP funding would not be renewed after June 30.
The Scott administration and the Florida House are staunchly against using federal dollars to expand what they believe is a flawed system. The Houses proposed $76.1 billion budget doesnt include the federal governments match for LIP dollars.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said he was strongly against moving Obamacare forward through what he sees is a flawed Medicaid program.
Florida stands ready today to create a new model for LIP, but we will not be bullied into expanding a broken Medicaid program. he said.
The Senate plan, SPB 7044, would create a health-insurance exchange where people with an income of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level can go to choose from among a number of private insurance plans. The estimated 800,000 eligible are people who do not qualify for Medicaid right now.
Some of the states top lawmakers at the national level contend its important to keep the funds to support medical providers who take care of low-income patients.
Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Florida members of Congress Gus Bilirakis, Curt Clawson, Rich Nugent, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Ted Yoho penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services saying it was critical to continue LIP funding.
"Uncompensated care will still exist in Florida with or without the expansion of Medicaid, and thus it is important to continue the LIP so that the federal government and Florida continue to support providers who serve this ongoing uninsured population," they wrote.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services says Florida has known for a long while that the funds were set to expire.
The LIP is authorized as part of a broader optional, time limited demonstration program, and that authority has long been scheduled to expire June 30," said HHS Press Secretary Ben Wakana. "Florida is requesting an additional optional extension, which raises a different question: whether it promotes the objectives of the Medicaid statute to use demonstration authority when the state has statutory options that would better serve the low-income population."
Gov. Scott still vowed to press on in the battle to secure the funds.
We will not pass this cost on to our citizens in Florida and we will continue to fight for the federal LIP dollars our citizens already pay for with their federal taxes, he said.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email atallison@sunshinestatenews.comor follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
