Key state budget analysts found fault last month with Medicaid cost estimates that Gov. Rick Scott has repeatedly used to raise objections to the federal Affordable Care Act — but the Scott administration has refused to scrap the numbers, according to a report by Health News Florida.
The online news service obtained emails that showed questions were raised by Amy Baker, who leads the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research, and Eric Pridgeon, the top staff member on the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee.
Baker and Pridgeon play important roles in estimating the state’s expenditures on Medicaid and other health and human-services programs.
The Agency for Health Care Administration, which is under Scott, released a report last month that said Medicaid changes in the Affordable Care Act would cost the state $26 billion over 10 years. That was dramatically higher than earlier estimates, including estimates that Baker and Pridgeon helped put together.
Baker and Pridgeon quickly found flaws with AHCA’s estimates and said moving forward with the numbers would violate state law, according to Health News Florida.
After meeting Monday with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleeen Sebelius, Scott relied on the $26 billion figure in expressing concerns about the cost of the federal health law, commonly known as Obamacare.
The state’s Social Services Estimating Conference, which includes analysts from the Legislature, Baker’s office and the Scott administration, is expected to update the official estimate of the Affordable Care Act costs. As of Tuesday morning, a meeting of the estimating conference had not been scheduled.
