Florida Gov. Rick Scott has changed his position, again, on Medicaid.
Before becoming governor, Scott spent $5 million of his own money to oppose the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, which sought to expand Medicaid, a longstanding federal and state health insurance program for the very poor.
Once sworn into office in January 2010, Scott stuck to his guns, rejecting Medicaid expansion, a program which would benefit close to 1 million low-income Floridians. Almost fully-financed by the federal government, Scott and Republican state lawmakers continued to turn down $51 billion in federal funding for Medicaid expansion.
But in February 2013, no doubt looking toward to a second gubernatorial run, Scott would change his position on Medicaid, although he didn’t push it in the legislature. He called it a “compassionate, common-sense step forward.”
“While the federal government is committed to paying 100 percent of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care,” Scott said.
Now, having been re-elected to the governor’s office for a second term, Scott seems to have had a change of heart, again, defaulting to his original position, but with a twist.
On Monday, Scott appeared to link the expansion of Medicaid to the Low-Income Pool (LIP) program, funded by the federal government to the tune of $1 billion, and which helps pay for uncompensated care. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that the LIP program, which expires in June, won’t be renewed at the existing level.
He declared that Florida shouldn’t take on any more federal programs, in light of the roll back of LIP.
“Given that the federal government said they would not fund the federal LIP program to the level it is funded today, it would be hard to understand how the state could take on even more federal programs that CMS could scale back or walk away from,” Scott said.
President of the League of Women Voters of Florida, Deirdre Macnab, blasted Scott for his announcement, calling it “a sucker punch for all Floridians.”
“With all the positive momentum from business and bi-partisan political leaders expressing support for taking Florida’s money, Governor Scott’s hopefully temporary lapse of support is bad news for Florida,” Macnab said, in a statement.
Added Mc Nab: “This issue affects everyone. If the working-poor are left without coverage, hospitals will have to continue to shift the cost of treating the uninsured to the insured, with experts having already identified an 8% cost shift to those with insurance. Continuing to refuse to take these Florida tax dollars, now held by the federal government and going to other states, means that healthcare costs will only increase and put some hospitals at risk of closing.”
With Scott’s recent announcement, it’s unclear how the Florida Senate, considering legislation to expand the Medicaid program, will respond.
