Montana did it. They
bucked the Koch brothers, and moderate Republican joined with Democrats to pass a Medicaid expansion bill. Now all eyes turn to Florida, where the stakes are much higher, and the
legislature has been at an impasse, leaving about 800,000 Floridians who are in the Medicaid gap in limbo:
Lawmakers are currently looking at a $1.3 billion budget hole because the federal government has said it will not continue a hospital funding program known as the Low Income Pool. In a letter to the state Medicaid office Tuesday, federal health officials said they would be willing to consider a potential successor program proposed by the Senate, but no deal has been reached.
Making matters worse, the House and Senate are at odds over Medicaid expansion. The Senate wants to accept $2 billion in federal funds to expand private health care coverage to low-income Floridians. The more conservative House does not.
The letter from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday made it clear that the two policies are linked. That is, if Florida expands coverage, the state will be more likely to have its LIP funds renewed. Still, the House remains unwilling to budge.
The Florida legislature has been knee deep in
crap generated by the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity, but the Senate has remained solidly behind expansion. The Obama administration is
definitely playing hardball on this, but rightfully so. The LIP federal money has always been temporary funding, but what's so blatantly obnoxious about Gov. Rick Scott's—and the House's—position is what Greg Sargent points out. Both sources of money are coming from the federal government and coverage through Medicaid is a much better option for the people it serves. The opposition to Medicaid expansion is entirely about politics, about anti-Obamacare politics, and driven by the Kochs.