I’ve been following the Florida Medicaid expansion fight fairly lightly as I did not think much would happen as the Tea Bagging lower chamber and the walking dildo/Voldemort doppleganger of a governor both opposed expansion. However the Obama administration is using its leverage on not releasing other voluntary Medicaid related funds to pressure Florida to expand Medicaid or see its hospitals which perform a lot of charity care get kneecapped as compensating funds would be withdrawn.
That is hardball. And Gov. Scott wants to assert a right of unrestricted reciept of federal funds, so he is suing that any linkage of federal funds towards achieving federal policy goals is illegal. That is mildly interesting.
Far more important is the following sentence from the St. Petersburg Times blog:
The hospitals–which are most impacted by the pending elimination of Low Income Pool–laid low following the announcement. The Florida Hospital Association issued a statement saying that its “focus is on a responsible state budget hat includes coverage and a replacement for the low income pool. Both are essential to ensure low-income, working Floridians have access to preventative care and critical services. “
The FHA is ducking the issue, and is not indicating that it is willing to fight to get its hands on several billion dollars a year of new revenue. As long as FHA won’t go to war with the Tea Baggers, Florida can’t get nice things.