As House and Senate leaders squabble about the budget, the direction of a Medicaid overhaul also remained unclear Monday.
When asked about the status of the Medicaid issue, House sponsor Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, answered: “It is over in the Senate.” When pressed further, he said the House is “just waiting on them.”
Schenck, however, appeared to rule out a formal conference committee to negotiate differences between the House and Senate.
The House has already passed its version of the bill, which would gradually shift almost all Medicaid beneficiaries into managed-care plans.
“At this point, I feel that we can still work out the differences without conference,” Schenck said.
Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said he offered to deal with Medicaid during a special session or in a separate conference from the budget. But he said it will not be part of budget negotiations.
“It is separate from the budget negotiation at the insistence of the House,” Alexander said.
