Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Florida GOP Fights Obama Administration For Hospital Funds Linked To Medicaid Expansion
A group of Florida Republicans wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to reverse a decision to end the Low Income Pool program in Florida, arguing it "has been working to help low-income families in our state." The request won't go anywhere, but represents the call to arms that Gov. Rick Scott sent up during a trip to Washington last week. (Leary, 5/20)
Presidential candidate Marco Rubio and other Florida Republicans urged President Obama on Wednesday to renew federal funding for health program at the center of a festering dispute between Gov. Rick Scott and the administration, which wants the state to expand Medicaid under Obamacare instead. Their letter to the president comes days after Mr. Scott, a Republican, personally asked congressional Republicans to wade into the fight. (Howell, 5/20)
Emergency room visits by uninsured patients fell 22 percent in the first three months of 2015 compared to same time period in 2014, a drop that New Hampshire hospitals attribute to Medicaid expansion. In a report released Wednesday, the New Hampshire Hospital Association also said inpatient admissions of the uninsured fell by 27 percent. (Hayward, 5/20)
Also in the news, GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush's health care record -- particularly on Medicaid -- is scrutinized.
In education and immigration, Jeb Bush is an outlier in the Republican presidential field — a moderate who raises concerns about the ideological direction of the party. But on another flash-point issue, health care, Bush is a proven conservative, having put into action ideas that some GOP rivals can only talk about. Bush cites his 2005 effort to overhaul Florida’s broken and expensive Medicaid program as a model for using market-driven reforms to cut the growth of health spending and rein in a big government program. It’s not a full-fledged GOP alternative to Obamacare, but it’s a starting point. (Haberkorn, 5/221)