On January 7th, Scott and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will talk about how Florida should deal with key parts of the Affordable Care Act.
They include whether to create a health-insurance exchange, for individuals to buy coverage and whether to expand eligibility in the Medicaid program.
Scott has opposed the law vehemently. But President Obama's re-election last month meant the law would move forward, so Scott wrote to Sebelius."Back in November, I sent a letter to her because we've got figure out how we reduce the cost of health care in our state. I've also sent a letter to President Obama with the same goal", said Scott.
This week Scott's office put out new estimates that the federal healthcare overhaul would cost the state nearly $26 Billion over ten years if fully implemented. That's more than three times larger than an estimate the administration released last summer.
"I just saw those numbers. I'm trying to understand why they're going up", said Scott. "I know that we can't afford higher – one, health care costs for all of our citizens. Our taxpayers can't afford more Medicaid costs."
Scott and Florida's legislative leaders are trying to decide whether to set up a state-run health insurance exchange or let the federal government do it.