Florida Governor proposes $70B budget; includes $132M in cuts to Medicaid

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) on Thursday unveiled a $70 billion state budget for fiscal year 2009 that would reduce spending on health care by $132 million and that includes new initiatives to expand health coverage, the Orlando Sentinel reports (Kennedy/Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel, 2/1). Crist proposed reducing Medicaid reimbursements for HMOs by $60 million (Follick, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 2/1).

Crist also proposed a $63.9 million pilot program to help uninsured adults obtain coverage. The program would be launched in 14 counties and would focus on neighborhoods where many families lack health insurance (Orlando Sentinel, 2/1). Under the program, health care workers would go door-to-door to identify uninsured residents and then determine if they are eligible for Medicaid or KidCare, the state's version of SCHIP. Residents also could be given a health screening and then directed to county health departments or local health clinics. According to the governor's office, the three-year program, which is modeled after a similar initiative under way in Broward County, could avoid 680,000 hospital visits annually. Officials with the governor's office said citizenship of prospective beneficiaries would not be verified under the program.

Crist also has proposed spending $60 million to expand KidCare to an additional 46,000 children, which would increase enrollment to more than 311,000 (Royse, AP/Florida Times-Union, 1/31). He also said that he is planning to announce a program that would offer low-cost coverage to all of the state's uninsured residents (Kleindienst, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2/1).

House Minority Leader Dan Gelber (D) said, "While I think it may be more of a faith-based budget than one grounded in reality, at least the governor recognizes that Florida can't sustain massive cuts to education, health care and public scrutiny." Rich Morrison, a vice president at Florida Hospital, said, "I think there's going to be a lot of cutting that's going to be done." He added that he expects the Legislature will make further cuts in health programs for low-income and older residents (Orlando Sentinel, 2/1).