FL – House, Senate Subcommittees Propose Medicaid Cuts in Budget Drafts

April 2017 ~

Florida state legislators in the House and Senate health care budget subcommittees, on March 28 proposed Medicaid cuts in their initial budget drafts.

Under the proposed House budget, Florida hospitals would see a 7 % decrease in the Medicaid reimbursement rate (a potential overall loss of $622 million), a decrease in federal matching funds, as well as a cut Medicaid supplemental payments to hospitals by $477 million.

The budget proposed by the Senate includes Low Income Pool funding to help the state’s safety-net hospitals and calls to cut Florida hospital’s Medicaid supplemental payments by $99 million (a potential overall loss of $258 million).

House Appropriations Chairman Jason Brodeur commented in a WLRN report, ” Nobody’s payment rate could go above 5 percent or below 5 percent of what they got so it smoothes it out over time. What we don’t want to have happen is implement a policy and then have either the bottom fall out or somebody get an enormous amount of money for no difference in effort.”

Hospitals, specifically those serving Medicaid patients and the uninsured, have expressed concerns about the potential cuts. Meanwhile, lawmakers are hoping the federal government reinstates the Low Income Pool to reimburse hospitals for unpaid care.

Source(s): Becker’s Hospital CFO; Miami Herald; Health News Florida; KHN Morning Briefing;