Gov. Rick Scott signed a contentious Medicaid billing measure late Thursday, angering counties that will have to pay tens of millions of dollars in disputed health-care charges that have piled up for years.
Scott said the Agency for Health Care Administration would work with counties to soften HB 5301, which includes several other provisions in addition to the billing change.
But the most contentious part of the measure will require counties to pay back years of disputed Medicaid bills unless they can prove to an administrative judge that the bills were unwarranted.
Counties argue that the state should fix its bill system, which they say is plagued with errors, before using the withholding mechanism in the bill to force counties to pay 85 percent of bills that might or might not be valid. Lawmakers who supported the measure said they should have been paying their bills all along.
The counties would have three years to pay back the money, at a cost of about $77.5 million, according to the state; the Florida Association of Counties argues that the measure will cost governments nearly $155.6 million.
“I respectfully acknowledge the concern this provision may create for some counties,” Scott wrote in a letter announcing his signature. ” … To that end, I have pledged to the counties that AHCA and my staff will work diligently with them to certify that any billings for which counties are charged are accurate and valid.”
Scott also said AHCA officials will visit every county in the state to talk about problems with the billing system.
Even so, FAC President Doug Smith issued a statement blasting the move.
“While we appreciate the Governor’s commitment to certify accurate billings, the bottom line is that H.B. 5301 makes those errors the law of the land, leaving taxpayers on the hook for Tallahassee’s multi-million dollar accounting mess,” Smith said. “This bill represents the very worst in bureaucratic inefficiency and serves as a splendid example of what taxpayers resent about government.”
Smith said the counties were “considering all of our options” in responding to the law. He did not elaborate on what those options might include.
The measure also allows the children of state workers to get subsidized health care coverage through the KidCare system.
It also limits the number of times that non-pregnant adults on Medicaid can visit a hospital emergency room to six a year.
By Brandon Larrabee
