With 800,000 Floridians in Health Insurance Limbo, Hopes Return for Medicaid...
A coalition of businesses groups, local officials and healthcare industry representatives has rolled out a plan to insure nearly one million low-income Floridians who fall in the so-called Medicaid...
View ArticleMore States Lean Toward Medicaid Expansion, But Florida Remains a Holdout
The biggest nonexpansion states are Florida and Texas, where expansion would add a total of 2.6 million uninsured residents to the Medicaid rolls. But both the Florida and Texas legislatures are...
View ArticleFearing Loss of $1 Billion in Federal Aid, Senate Again Considers Medicaid...
Florida's budget faces an unexpected deficit. Accepting the federal Medicaid money could potentially offset the loss of the Low-Income Pool Funds. But the plan faces stiff opposition. The post Fearing...
View ArticlePlan to Extend Health Insurance to 800,000 Poor Floridians Crawls Against...
The new Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange Program, or FHIX, would assist Floridians not eligible for Medicaid in purchasing health benefits coverage and gaining access to health services....
View ArticleSpecial Session Ahead for Legislature as Lawmakers Fail To Resolve Budget Clash
Gov. Rick Scott's administration, federal officials and House and Senate leaders have waged a public war over health dollars, which President Obama's administration declared Tuesday are tied to an...
View ArticleGov. Bizarre: Scott Suing Federal Government Over One Pot of Money Even As He...
The lawsuit plays into a heated battle over a Senate plan to use $2.8 billion in Medicaid expansion funding to help lower-income Floridians purchase private health insurance. But the House and Scott...
View ArticleTennessee and Kansas Also Get Fed Warning to Florida: Expand Medicaid Or Risk...
The federal government confirmed that it gave officials in those states the same message delivered to Texas and Florida about the risk to funding for so-called “uncompensated care pools” — Medicaid...
View ArticleHouse and Senate Far Apart on Budget as Health Care For Poor Becomes...
The Florida House had made a significant concession to the Senate on hospital funding --- but said it would only follow through if the upper chamber dropped insistence on using Medicaid expansion...
View ArticleLegislators Set Special Session For June 1 But $2.2 Billion in Health Aid for...
Florida House and Senate leaders did not put out a list of topics that would be discussed during the special session, leaving room for disagreement over the final "call" that will be issued to...
View ArticleGov. Scott Seeks Court-Ordered Injunction Against Federal Government in...
Lawyers for the state asked Thursday for a federal judge to immediately bar the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from considering whether the state has expanded Medicaid as the agency...
View ArticleHow Health Care Blew Up the 2015 Session
Dramatic miscalculations and eagerness for showdown over health care derailed Florida lawmakers' plans in the 2015 legislative session--impulses they must guard against if the special session is to go...
View ArticleGov. Scott Stacks Hospital Panel Without a Single Hospital Expert in Overt Snub
Scott's commission is to make recommendations for a special legislative session on health funding scheduled to begin June 1, but it includes beef, housing, real estate, banking and hospitality experts,...
View ArticleGov. Scott Threatens to Delay Tax Cuts and Education Funding Hike Over Budget...
A roughly $261 per student increase from the current year is at stake, as is a a $690 million tax-cut package, if a health care-fueled budget impasse continues in the Legislature. The post Gov. Scott...
View ArticleSenate Leaders Propose Compromise in Budget Impasse, Gov. Scott and House...
Scott and House Republicans have repeatedly said they have no interest in using Medicaid expansion funds from Obamacare to close a $2.2 billion budget gap and insure more Floridians. The post Senate...
View ArticleAdministrator Patrick Johnson Calls It Quits as Flagler Health Department...
Flagler County Health Department Administrator Patrick Johnson is resigning at the end of the month to take a public health post in North Carolina as county departments in Florida see their roles shift...
View ArticleFederal Government Calls Gov. Scott’s Lawsuit Over Medicaid Expansion “Baseless”
Federal officials fired back in court against Gov. Rick Scott's contention that the Obama administration has unconstitutionally tried to link expanding Medicaid with the continuation of a key...
View ArticleOpposing “Medicaid in Disguise,” Florida House Set to Kill Senate Health Plan...
For all of its new provisions, House Republicans said, the so-called Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, remains Medicaid expansion in disguise. The post Opposing “Medicaid in...
View ArticleIn Breakthrough, Lawmakers Agree on Health Budget and “Significant” Increase...
Florida House and the Senate reached tentative agreements Saturday on money to hospitals and providers for the poor, and a $207-per-pupil increase in education funding. The post In Breakthrough,...
View ArticleSenator Blasts “Hypocritical” House Over Rejecting Medicaid Money While...
Disagreements led Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, to label the House as "hypocritical" for rejecting federal Medicaid expansion funding while being willing to issue bonds to pay for...
View Article2.8 Million Floridians Still Uninsured Even as Just 20% Fall in Medicaid Gap
It's 1.1 million fewer than in 2013, but almost a third of the uninsured are eligible for Obamacare but haven't enrolled, 15% have chosen not to enroll in employee-provided health care, and the rest...
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