Gov. Scott Doubtful On Medicaid Expansion
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – Governor Rick Scott says he doesn't see how the state could afford to expand the Medicaid program under the federal health care law, noting its high cost already.
"I don't know how we're ever going to be able to afford it," Scott said Friday morning in an interview on WOKV radio in Jacksonville. "Medicaid is the biggest issue we have, it's growing at three and a half times our general revenue. We cannot afford it."
On Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Obama administrations Affordable Care Act which includes a measure which allows states to opt out of any Medicaid expansion required under the law without risking the loss of existing Medicaid dollars.
The law relies in part on states taking on large numbers of new Medicaid patients – though the federal government would pick up the cost at first and 90 percent of the cost down the road.
Still, even at having to pay only 10 percent of the cost of new Medicaid patients, several Florida lawmakers said this week that the state may opt out.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
