Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Florida's Public Hospitals Brace For Cuts Amid Budget Stalemate
The Miami Herald: Public Hospitals Brace For Possible Cuts As Florida Budget Stalemate Continues
Broward County’s public hospitals have begun preparing for the potential loss of a combined $180 million a year in federal funds that help pay for the cost of care for the uninsured and for medical student training. Gathering at the Broward Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Monday with county commissioners and Democratic state senators and representatives from local districts to sound alarm, administrators for Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System said they are considering reductions to non-critical programs. The state Legislature has been unable to craft a budget so far this year, deadlocking over healthcare funding issues and creating big questions for public hospital budgets. (Chang, 5/11)
Orlando Sentinel: Local Lawmakers In Thick Of Health-Care Fight
Central Florida lawmakers are the primary targets of interest groups waging the battle over whether to expand federal health care for 800,000 low-income Floridians, with Democrats in particular hoping to use the issue to bolster their chances in next year's elections. Attack ads and mailers from political parties and groups either opposing or supporting efforts to expand Medicaid began to fly even before some lawmakers made it back to their doorstops after returning from Tallahassee without passing a budget. (Rohrer, 5/11)
Tampa Bay Times: On Fox News, Scott Throws In Towel: We Won't Do What 'I Wanted To Do'
Gov. Rick Scott appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox News Monday night and sounded resigned to the fact that the Legislature won't give him the tax cuts and school spending surge that he promised Florida voters when he ran for re-election last year. ... Scott also defended his double flip on Medicaid expansion. He opposed 'Obamacare' when he ran Conservatives for Patients Rights before he ran for governor in 2010, came out in favor of full-blown Medicaid expansion in 2013 and sided with the House this spring in opposing the Senate's modified Medicaid expansion plan that has prompted the current legislative stalemate. "I said at the time (in 2013), I will not stand in the way of the federal government if they want to take care of the low-income families," Scott told Fox. (Bousquet, 5/12)
In Alaska, meanwhile, hearings begin on the governor's Medicaid expansion plan -
Fairbanks (Alaska) News Miner: House Medicaid Hearings Begin
Nearly halfway through the special session, the House Finance Committee on Monday held its first hearing on Gov. Bill Walker’s Medicaid expansion bill. In the first of four meetings scheduled on House Bill 148 in Anchorage this week, the committee heard an update on the troubled Medicaid provider payment system and on a proposal to explore a health-care provider tax. The main point of the legislation is to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid eligibility to some 40,000 people in Alaska who are currently ineligible for Medicaid or subsidized insurance on the private market. The expansion was a key part of Walker’s campaign and was one of three items he put on the agenda for the special session he called after lawmakers gaveled out in April. (Buxton, 5/11)
And federal officials send a message to hospitals about billing for medically unnecessary ambulance rides, while Hawaii gets a new Medicaid director-
Modern Healthcare: Feds Put Hospitals On Notice With Florida Settlements Over Ambulance Rides
Nine Florida hospitals have agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle allegations that they led ambulance companies to bill federal health programs for medically unnecessary rides, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced Friday. It's a case government officials say could have implications for hospitals across the country. (Schencker, 5/11)
Honolulu Star Advertiser: State Names New Medicaid Director
Judy Mohr Peterson has been named head of the state Medicaid program amid continuing problems with a new online eligibility system estimated to cost taxpayers as much as $144 million. ... Mohr Peterson served as Oregon’s state Medicaid director since September 2009 and has 18 years of experience in public health. (Consillio, 5/11)
