Bill Offers Partial Medicaid Reform in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.–State legislators have proposed a gradual
approach to implement portions of Gov. Jeb Bush’s Medicaid reform
plan. Under legislation introduced last week, HMOs and other
managed-care networks would take over care for Medicaid patients in
several counties in Northeast and Southeast Florida beginning in
2006. The plan would not be implemented statewide until 2007. The
bill also proposes incentives, such as low-interest loans, to draw
private companies into the new system.

In January, the governor proposed a complete overhaul of the
state’s Medicaid program–which currently makes up about a quarter
of the state’s $61 billion budget–to make expenditures more
predictable and manageable. Among other specifics, the proposal
would give recipients an allotted amount of money to purchase their
own health care coverage from managed-care organizations and other
private networks.