Monday, April 20, 2015

Rick Scott Is Revealing The GOP’s Ultimate Obamacare Hypocrisy

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/04/17/3648207/rick-scott-medicaid/
"Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), one of the staunchest opponents of the health care reform law, refuses to accept federal funds to implement Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which would extend coverage to about 800,000 low-income people in the state. At the same time, however, Scott wants the Obama administration to give him federal funds to help implement a specific Medicaid pilot program. Ultimately, Scott is demanding money from the government that doesn’t appear to be linked to Obamacare — and he’s willing to go to great lengths to get it.
Scott wants the government to give Florida about $1 billion in federal funds for a Medicaid pilot project — called the Low-Income Pool, or LIP — that helps support hospitals that serve low-income and uninsured patients. LIP is a program that was initiated under the Jeb Bush administration to address hospitals’ budget shortfalls from providing too much uncompensated care to uninsured people who can’t pay their bills.
Federal officials are refusing, saying that Scott wouldn’t need LIP funding if he simply expanded the eligibility requirements for the state’s entire Medicaid program. Florida’s LIP program is set to expire at the end of June, and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) don’t want to renew it. Essentially, the pilot program has become obsolete under the Affordable Care Act, and it doesn’t make sense to fund LIP instead of funding Medicaid expansion."