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After months of wrangling about the issue, a top federal official Tuesday outlined a deal to continue Florida’s Low Income Pool health-funding program for two years. Federal official Vikki Wachino sent a letter to state Medicaid Director Justin Senior that said an agreement “in principle” has been reached about the size of the program and how money will be divvied up among hospitals and other health providers. ... Part of the debate in recent months stemmed from uncertainty about how much money would be available to help hospitals cover the costs of caring for uninsured patients. But the issue became tangled in a fierce political battle about a state Senate plan to use federal Medicaid money to offer health coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Floridians — a plan that House Republican leaders opposed and, ultimately, killed. (Saunders, 6/23)

The tumultuous debate over the future of health care funding for the poor came to a quiet end Tuesday as the governor signed into law a budget that includes $1 billion to pay for charity care and raise Medicaid rates at Florida hospitals. In a letter to state officials, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said they have "agreed in principle" to a Florida plan for distribution of the Low Income Pool (LIP) funds that pay for hospital care for Medicaid beneficiaries and the low-income uninsured. The plan also calls for paying higher Medicaid rates to hospitals, particularly those that care for large numbers of uninsured patients. State lawmakers had to redesign the LIP program and raise Medicaid reimbursement rates because the federal government reduced LIP money for Florida by $1.2 billion for the coming year, which led to a budget impasse between the House and Senate this spring and then to a special session on the budget that ended last week. (Klas and Chang, 6/23)

The Obama administration and the state have reached an agreement in principle to continue funding Florida's hospital low-income pool for two more years but at a much lower cost, officials said Tuesday. Florida will receive $1 billion this year — about half of what the state has been receiving — and $600 million for 2016-2017. The federal government must still wait until the end of a public review to issue its final ruling. The fight over the funds tore apart Florida's regular legislative session in late April and prompted Gov. Rick Scott to sue the federal government. (6/23)

After more than an hour of debate, the House voted to expand Medicaid coverage in Maine to an estimated 70,000 poor residents and generate millions in federal funds for health care providers. ... Opponents argued the expansion is not a good long-term investment and the bill's future is uncertain. The Senate has yet to consider the measure and Gov. Paul LePage has said he would veto any bill lawmakers passed that would expand Medicaid. (Leary, 6/23)