Fla. Senate Approves Medicaid Expansion But Adds Provisions Seeking To Gain House Support

The Associated Press: Senate Approves Health Care Expansion Bill
After a passionate debate, the Florida Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would let a half million people use billions in federal dollars to buy health insurance, and added new measures to address criticism from the House, chiefly that the program would end in three years. A majority of Republicans supported the controversial health care bill. Earlier this week, a state economist said the plan would save the state money. A top state health official warned it was unclear whether more or less people would gain coverage under the bill. (Kennedy and Fineout, 6/3)

Orlando Sentinel: Senate Passes Health Plan As Issue Comes To A Head
Senators issued a series of dire warnings in fervent speeches Wednesday before amending and passing a bill offering health insurance to up to 800,000 Floridians, all with the aim of getting House support. But so far, House leaders have resisted every Senate attempt to change the measure to make it more acceptable. The House is poised to vote on the bill by Friday, and chamber leaders have indicated there aren’t enough votes to pass it. (Rohrer, 6/3)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Senate Passes Health Insurance Plan But Opposition Persists
The Florida Senate capped one of the most politically divisive debates in decades Wednesday and gave bipartisan approval to a plan that draws federal Medicaid money into a privately run program to provide subsidized health insurance to low-income, working Floridians. ... The Senate adopted a series of last-minute changes aimed at quieting concerns from House Republicans and Gov. Rick Scott. But, despite the revisions and an appeal by Senate leaders to show this was a "Florida plan" and not traditional Medicaid expansion, Scott did not budge. "He has not revised" his opposition, said Scott spokesman Jackie Shultz after the Senate vote. (Klas, 6/3)

Miami Herald: White House To Florida: Medicaid Expansion Saves Lives
The Obama administration weighed in on Florida’s legislative debate over Medicaid expansion Thursday with an updated version of a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, first released in summer 2014 and updated for this year, counting the ways the Sunshine State would gain by opening eligibility for the government healthcare program to nearly all low-income adults. Most of the projected gains have been trumpeted before: billions of dollars in federal funding and fewer people uninsured or facing medical debt. But, in a reflection of how intense the debate has become, the state-by-state report adds a new measure this year: fewer deaths. (Chang, 6/4)

The Associated Press: Gov. Scott Administration Under Fire In Health Care Fight
Key Republicans on Tuesday asserted that the administration of Florida Gov. Rick Scott was playing politics in a continuing fight over health care that has already derailed one legislative session this year. Scott, who has changed his stance on whether to expand Medicaid coverage twice now, is opposed to a plan pushed by Senate Republicans that would use federal money to provide private insurance to low-income Floridians. (Fineout, 6/3)

Miami Herald: Lawmakers Slash Gov. Rick Scott’s Tax Cuts, Berate His Top Medicaid Expert
Gov. Rick Scott picked a good time to be far from the Capitol Tuesday as House members slashed his tax cuts and angry senators accused his top Medicaid expert of playing politics with health care. ... A House committee approved a fraction of the $700 million in tax cuts Scott sought, and senators berated the governor’s point man on Medicaid, Justin Senior, for more than an hour. Months of simmering frustration by Republican senators erupted. They accused Senior, deputy secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, of manufacturing phony arguments to side with the House in an effort to mobilize opposition to a Senate plan to expand health coverage to 800,000 Floridians. (Bousquet and Klas, 6/2)

Meanwhile, a financial analysis of hospitals shows some intriguing contradictions about the Medicaid expansion.

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Improve Margins Without Medicaid Expansion
Hospitals in states that expanded their Medicaid programs last year saw a significant reduction in bad debt, but even providers in non-expansion states still improved their operating margins. The average reduction in bad debt last year was 13% in Medicaid expansion states, according to an analysis of not-for-profit and public hospitals by Moody's Investors Service. In non-expansion states, bad debt rose in the first nine months of the year, and only started to come down in the fourth quarter. (Kutscher, 6/3)