Senate votes to cut back Medicaid services

The Florida Senate voted 23-to-14 (largely along party lines) to cut back on the type of services Medicaid covers to cut general revenue expenses by roughly half a billion dollars.

The bill limits Medically Needy program to pregnant women and children on Nov. 1 of this year. It stops Medicaid coverage for dental services for adults on Sept. 30th. It stops Medicaid coverage for hearing aides on Oct. 1.

The Senate did use non-recurring dollars, including $100 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, to help buffer the cuts, pushing back the expiration dates of the programs.

The Senate also voted to eliminate those automatic cost-of-living increases for Medicaid reimbursement for county health departments, nursing homes and inpatient hospital services (among others), making such increases depend on the budget funding each year.

Comments

We’ll teach you to demand fiscal responsibility…

CSX… 700-million
Taxpayers… nadda
Insurance Industry… a pass

Voting all incumbents out of office… priceless!

[THE PEOPLE!]

STOP DIVERTING ATTENTION AWAY FROM YOUR LIES AND FAILURES BY PICKING ON OLD PEOPLE, AND FIX PROPERTY INSURANCE LIKE YOU PROMISED.

cut government salaries, benefits & pensions

[Sick of Hypocracy]

At least the Senate GOP wasn't stupid enough to put increases in for doctors and dentists at the peril of children and oldsters. We can wait and see if they get sucked in by the House GOP.

and there is a surprise here??!!??

piglicans dont give a damn about anyone but folks with $$$$$$!!

pro-life, my butt!!

lying skum!!

stocks and the lash are too good for them!!

Cut the time and money wasted on photo-ops, girl-tossing out a pitch, pandering to absentee crackhead parents, and slopping down bowls of free paella.

Problem Solved!

[jack]

FloriDUH!!

Of course they'll cut Medicaid Services, CMS, Foster Care, Child Abuse Protection - they don't get nearly the campaign donations on behalf of these groups like they do CSX!!!!!!

If they'd cut the CSX subsidy they wouldn't have to cut services to sick children, the elderly, the handicapped.

But nooooooo, these Republicans value unnecessary medical procedures for the health (ultrasounds for pregnant women who want abortions) and handouts to giant corporations (CSX).

The Republican Party - turning the "middle class" into the "working poor" one corporate subsidy at a time!!!!!!!!

[Daniel Whittman]

Any type to cuts in governments is good, great, wonderful. The 200+ year bloated would-be dictators in local, state and federal governments should be sent to the fat farm to reduce. If five million of the government workers disappeared suddenly, would anyone miss them besides their families? I think not. What about cutting a few more million across the board? Do not want everyone working for the goverment like in Cuba. But that is exactly where we are heading with the gleeful cheering of most of the media and most of the bloated, wormy, hateful goverment.

If 5 million government workers went missing would they be missed?

Probably not by child abusers or unlicensed contractors or unlicensed doctors and dentists or by corporations dumping chemicals in the rivers and aquifer recharge areas. Nope, they wouldn't be missed at all by prisoners and robbers wouldn't miss state prosecutors at all!!!

You're right they surely wouldn't be missed by some - but a huge majority of people would be very concerned about their health and safety.

[Lucy]

Until we care enough to say I'm mad as h*ll and I'm not going to take it anymore, and vote out the incumbents, we have only ourselves to blame. Every election the same people are returned to office, to squander as they please. Wake up and take a stand.

[Dale]

Obviously term limits only served to make the legislators grab as much special interest cash as they can in a shorter time.
The poor, sick, retarded, elderly and children don't give the pols nearly as much money as the developers and the mega corporations.
So who gets represented and who gets screwed?
Its almost time for the torch and pitchfork parade to Tallahassee, folks.
No wait.
Its past time!

[Bob]

They cut medicaid yet allow the "double dipping" to continue! What the heck is going on with our state government?! This stuff should be all over the TV, etc. FL citizens should be furious about this and hold accountable and impeach our politicians if need be!

... had enough yet, you dopes!

Eventually there will be a choice made. Do we subsidize cheap illegal alien labor for businesses or do we provide for those American Citizens amongst us? Evidently Democrats support the illegal aliens and Republicans don't have enough votes to force the issue. The Republicans better start screaming that the Democrats are pro- illegal alien and therefore anti-American worker or they will get tagged for it themselves.

Nice try, 10:31… aka: staffer… but no cigar. Republicons turn a blind eye to illegal immigrations because it’s tax-avoiding, cheap, slave labor for their big corporate contributors… and the lower class pays for most of their social programs.

For God’s sake, you criminals are putting up John McAmnesty as your boy!

[Sam]

So who's Pro Life vs. Pro Birth?

republicans only seem to care that a child is born and not raised and cared for to become a productive part of our community and hence, economy.

disgusting bigots.

[ErnestR`]

I knew this was coming. Medicaid cuts are the price Floridians will pay because the overseers of Medicaid allow drug companies like Eli Lilly to promote and get prescribed their most expensive anti-psychotic drugs to treat kids for ADHD and the elderly for dementia when those drugs are not FDA approved or even effective for that. Much cheaper drugs have always been prescribed in the past. Florida Medicaid should not reimburse doctors who prescribe expensive, side-effect prone anti-psychotics like Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, Abilify or Geodon when they are experimentally prescribed "off label" for purposes they don't have FDA approval for. This is the equivalent of reimbursing for a medical mistake. As long as we remain silent, drug companies will continue to raid Medicaid and money for more legitimate and necessary medical services will be cut or unavailable. Meanwhile drug companies are making billions off Medicaid by pushing their most expensive drugs for every disorder imaginable. Call your state representative and complain.