Florida Senate Rejects Medicaid Expansion

A Florida Senate committee voted yesterday, March 11, 2013, against expanding Medicaid to roughly 1 million of the state’s poorest under the federal health overhaul and instead proposed a voucher plan that would require patients to pay premiums and co-pays.

Chairman Senator Joe Negron wants the state to create its own health insurance plan for the expanded Medicaid population and require recipients to pay a sliding scale premium based on their income.  However, he has admitted that this may take years to implement whereas the federal proposal is ready to begin January 1, 2014.