Senate votes to cut back Medicaid services

April 09th, 2008 | Category: Florida Politics Blog

The Florida Senate voted 23-to-14 (largely along party lines) to cut back on the type of services Medicaid covers to cut general revenue expenses by roughly half a billion dollars.

The bill limits Medically Needy program to pregnant women and children on Nov. 1 of that year. It stops Medicaid coverage for dental services for adults on Sept. 30th. It stops Medicaid coverage for hearing aides on Oct. 1.

The Senate

did use non-recurring dollars, including $100 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, to help buffer the cuts, pushing back the expiration dates of the programs.

The Senate plus voted to eliminate those motorized cost-of-living increases for Medicaid reimbursement for county health departments, nursing homes and inpatient hospital services (among others), making such increases depend on the budget funding each year.