Medicaid Transformation Watched Closely In Florida

This week the federal government signed off on the first part of a plan that could eventually steer more than 3 million low-income Floridians on Medicaid into a managed care, or HMO system. The decision comes two years after Florida lawmakers approved the conversion in an attempt to control costs in the $21 billion program.

At that time, retirees were skeptical of how it would work. “For-profit companies have a fiduciary responsibility to do what? Make money. So they’re not going to manage their care, they’re going to ration their care,” said Joseph Flynn, a retiree living in the Central Florida community of the Villages, where Gov. Rick Scott was holding a budget signing ceremony.

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Source: Kaiser Health News