Fla. governor urges $2.1 billion cut in state Medicaid budget

Florida Gov. Rick Scott recommended cutting the state's Medicaid budget by $2.1 billion. Most of that savings, part of a $66.4 billion budget proposal, would come from changing the way hospitals are paid for treating Medicaid patients.

“No program has grown as fast and as much as Medicaid, and we must find a way to control the cost,” Scott said in a news release. Scott, once chairman and CEO of hospital chain Columbia/HCA, described the proposed changes to Medicaid reimbursement as “paying similar rates for the same procedures in similar hospitals.”

Bruce Rueben, president of the Florida Hospital Association, said the organization had not had time to analyze the payment methodology. “But the size of the cuts in the governor's proposal make it an unsustainable approach to financing hospital services for Medicaid patients,” Rueben said. “The size of the cuts are so significant that you would lose services.”

The state faces a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall for the coming year because economic growth is lagging behind predictions, combined with growing Medicaid costs and declining property tax revenue for schools, according to the Associated Press.

Scott's proposal is the beginning of the legislative process for crafting a budget for the 12 months that begin July 1, 2012. “I take comfort in the fact it's the Legislature that will ultimately decide how the state balances its budget,” Rueben said.