Scott Accepts Medicaid Expansion
Posted at 10:15 a.m. on Feb. 21
In a surprise move, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) announced that he would support the Medicaid expansion for his state under President Obama’s health care reform law, “a significant policy reversal that could bring health care coverage to 1 million additional Floridians,” the Miami Herald reports.
The Hill: “Scott said Florida should only agree to the expansion for three years — until federal funding drops to 90 percent… Scott said Florida should reassess the expansion and use the next three years to identify new ways of improving its healthcare system. He also said Florida would back out if the federal government doesn’t follow through on its commitment to initially fund the entire expansion.”
Matthew Yglesias: “residents of states that don’t expand Medicaid don’t gain any special exemption from the taxes that fund the program… if some states expand and others don’t you clearly want to be among the expanders. Scott…knows a lot about the health care industry and the money to be made in it and (rightly) thinks it would be absurd to cut Florida patients and health care providers off from these opportunities.”
