Governor Scott finally does right thing and takes Medicaid deal

Scott proposes three-year expansion of Medicaid to add 1 million uninsured
Orlando Sentinel
By Kathleen Hughes and William E. Gibson
6:08 p.m. EST, February 20, 2013

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday a proposed three-year expansion of Florida's Medicaid program – enrolling an additional one million poor and disabled Floridians beginning next year – after the Obama administration gave the state tentative approval to privatize Medicaid services.

If the Legislature approves, Scott's announcement means the state will extend eligibility in the federal-state program to single people and families earning up to 138 percent of poverty. The state plans to enroll almost all of them, along with the 3.3 million people currently being served by Medicaid, in private HMOs or other doctor-operated networks.

"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 at a press conference. He added that the expansion would have to be renewed in three years.
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