Florida’s Medicaid program likely will spend about $400 million less this year than what lawmakers expected when they drew up the state budget, according to updated estimates by state analysts.
A report posted online last week showed that Medicaid now expects to spend about $20.8 million during the current 2012-13 fiscal year, down from about $21.2 million included in the budget.
Of that $400 million in savings, $156.1 million is state general revenue, while almost all of the rest is federal money.
The report, compiled by the state’s Social Services Estimating Conference, indicates that much of the reduction stems from lower-than-expected hospital costs. It also projects that Medicaid spending during the 2013-14 fiscal year will increase to $22.16 million.
