Florida Considers Altering, Eliminating Program for Seriously Ill, Uninsured Residents

A Florida program for uninsured residents who have serious illnesses and do not qualify for Medicaid is in danger of expiring at the end of June, the Miami Herald reports. The Medically Needy program uses $273 million in state and federal funds to cover the health needs of 25,000 "desperately ill Floridians." Facing soaring Medicaid costs, the state Legislature last year "first eliminated the program, then brought it back, but only for half the year," until June 30. Legislators now are debating the program's future. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has proposed keeping the program, "but with major cutbacks." Bush's plan would require individuals to spend their own money for medical care "until they reached the basic Medicaid qualifying standard." After that, beneficiaries would have to pay copayments of no greater than 5% of their incomes. Last week, a state Senate subcommittee proposed cutting state funding to the program by 25%, from $110 million to $80 million. Under that plan, federal contributions would decrease by 25%, meaning the program would face an additional cut of $41 million. At the same time, a state House budget committee proposed that the program be eliminated altogether. According to Bob Sharpe, Medicaid director for the state's Agency for Health Care Administration, Bush and the state Legislature are "caught in a severe budget crunch," with the state facing stagnant revenues and Medicaid expenditures expected to rise 13% this year. "We want to make sure [the patients] meet their fair share of their costs," Sharpe said. However, Daniella Levine of the Human Services Coalition in Miami said that the Medically Needy beneficiaries "have no alternative. They will die without this program" (Dorschner, Miami Herald, 2/26).