On Thursday, FAMU alumna and Florida Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner
(D-Tampa) sharply condemned Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to sue the Obama administration
for allegedly trying to strong-arm the state into expanding Medicaid.
“Today’s grandstanding underscores his commitment to wasting
Florida’s tax dollars to get what he wants, at whatever cost,” said Joyner,
who, together with the Senate Democratic Caucus has joined the Senate
Republicans in supporting the Florida Senate’s healthcare expansion plan. “This
is all about scoring points against [U.S. President Barack Obama]. It has nothing to do with
protecting ‘the healthcare of Floridians’ or ‘their right to be free from
federal overreach.’”
According to the Tampa Bay Times, “The agency targeted by the lawsuit — the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS — is still deciding whether to renew a $2.2 billion program called the Low Income Pool that helps Florida hospitals treat low-income patients. And if no LIP dollars are awarded, Florida could be looking at a $1.3 billion budget gap…CMS told Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration that any decision regarding LIP would be tied to whether the state accepts federal Medicaid expansion money — a politically charged policy option that Scott once supported, but now opposes.”
Scott said he decided to take legal action against CMS because it was
using a “coercion” tactic in order to force the state into expanding Medicaid
under the Affordable Healthcare Act. The LIP funds are set to expire at the end
of June under a formal agreement signed more than a year ago by the state. As
part of that agreement, the state agreed that LIP would end at that time.
“The governor’s actions today raise his hypocrisy to new
heights,” Joyner said. “Federal dollars are federal dollars, whether they’re
spent on LIP or Medicaid expansion. The only difference is one has ‘Obamacare’
stamped on them.”
“Maintaining the status quo, as the governor is pulling out
all the stops to do, locks us down into perpetual triple taxation: paying for a
broken system of expensive emergency care, paying for LIP that only covers
hospitals, and paying for Medicaid expansion in other states that we can’t get
at home. The real government ‘overreach’ Floridians should fear is by the
governor’s own hand,” Joyner added.