Governor Rick Scott met Monday with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss how Florida will implement the Affordable Care Act. Scott said expanding Medicaid under the health care law, which he has long opposed, would cost Florida $26 billion.
He asked Sebelius to approve the Medicaid Managed Care plan passed by the Legislature in 2011, which would put Medicaid patients in HMO-style plans and must be approved by the federal government.
"We've been working to try to get those implemented, so I've asked the secretary if she would expedite those and get those finished", Scott said. "So that's what we worked on."
Afterward State Representative Mark Pafford, a Palm Beach County Democrat, said he hopes Scott isn’t trying to delay implementing the Affordable Care Act.
Florida so far has resisted setting up a state-run insurance exchange to help individuals find affordable health care coverage.
If the state doesn't set one up, HHS will do it by October first.