Florida Governor Rick Scott said on Thursday he will sue to
stop U.S. health leaders from ending more than $1 billion in
federal funding for low-income patients, arguing it stems
from the state's refusal to expand Obamacare for the working
poor.
Scott pledged to take legal action, but provided no details,
amid an escalating fight between Florida's Republican
leaders and President Barack Obama's administration.
The dispute has become entangled in Florida's rejection, so
far, of about $51 billion in federal dollars available over
10 years to expand Medicaid coverage to some 1 million
Floridians under the Affordable Care Act, known as
Obamacare.
Scott singled out a letter this week in which federal
officials acknowledged a connection between Medicaid
expansion and ongoing negotiations with Florida officials
over the state's "Low Income Pool." Florida stands to lose
about $1 billion in federal funding to pay hospitals for
treating needy patients.
He contends the Democratic president is "crossing the line
into a coercion tactic" in violation of a 2012 Supreme Court
ruling allowing each state to decide whether to accept the
expansion.
"It is appalling that President Obama would cut off federal
healthcare dollars to Florida in an effort to force our
state further into Obamacare," he said in a statement.
Debate over expanding Medicaid has deadlocked Florida's
GOP-controlled legislature. State senators want to take the
money, but their counterparts in the more conservative House
of Representatives remain staunchly opposed.
Florida's low-income pool, launched in 2006, had been
designed to support safety-net hospitals for a limited time,
U.S. health officials said. Expanding Medicaid would reduce
the financial burden of uncompensated care in Florida, they
noted.
Medicaid expansion and low-income pool funding "are linked
in considering a solution for Florida's low income citizens,
safety net providers, and taxpayers," Vikki Wachino, an
acting director for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, said this week in the letter to state
officials.
Following a one-year extension, the federal funding is now
due to expire in June.
Scott, once a tepid supporter of expansion, recently
backpedaled. He said he no longer trusts the federal
government to honor its funding commitment amid the dispute
over the low-income funding for hospitals, which has
stalemated negotiations over the state's more than $80
billion budget.