House Poised To Vote Down Senate's Medicaid Expansion Bill
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBSMiami/AP) — House Republicans seemed poised to vote down the Senate's Medicaid expansion bill.
The Senate's bill would let a half million people use billions in federal dollars to buy private health insurance.
During a tense few hours Thursday, House Republicans agreed the Senate plan was a government entitlement program that would increase the federal deficit. They could vote on the bill Friday.
Rep. Mia Jones stressed the bill would not expand Medicaid and would save the state an estimated $547 million and draw down more than $18 billion federal dollars.
The House and the governor want the Obama administration to extend a hospital fund known as the low-income pool. But the Senate, the Obama administration and hospital groups argue it's more efficient to give people insurance than to pay hospitals for caring for the uninsured retroactively.
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