FL Medicaid Privatization Under Fire
(Posted May 23, 2011 05:10 am)
TALLAHASSEE,
FL - The state of Florida and federal authorities are on
track for a head-on health-care collision when all
provisions of the Affordable Healthcare Act go into
effect in 2014, observers say.
About 3 million Floridians depend on Medicaid for
their health needs, a number expected to easily double
when the new national health-insurance law kicks in, in
2014. Florida lawmakers, backed by Gov. Rick Scott, have
passed legislation to move Medicaid patients into
private Health Maintenance Organization, claiming it
will save the state millions. Opponents such as
Florida Legal Services attorney Anne Swerlick say a
pilot project in five Florida counties has yet to meet
federal guidelines.
"One part of the new law says that if somebody has
available to them employer-based insurance, that they'll
be required to enroll in that and basically give up
their Medicaid benefits. That violates the federal law,
clearly, with regard to children."
An HMO takeover of Medicaid requires a federal waiver -
but as the Florida law now stands, federal Health and
Human Services officials say, a waiver is unlikely.
Protesters have confronted private health-care providers
across the nation. At a recent WellPoint annual
stockholders' meeting, they pointed out that it would
take 285 public-school teachers - who each earn $47,000
a year - to equal the compensation package of
Wellpoint's chief executive officer in 2010.
The managed-care industry has a shady track record to
overcome, Swerlick says.
"People seem to still have their head in the sand here.
It's a whole different sort of fraud that goes on when
we're talking about managed-care companies serving
Medicaid recipients."
Perhaps ironically, Scott, the main backer of Medicaid
privatization, was forced to resign as head of a
health-management company that pleaded guilty to 14
felony counts of Medicaid and Medicare fraud before he
became Florida's governor.