Just hours after receiving the official word from CMS that it has agreed in principle to approve Florida Medicaid’s statewide mandatory managed care waiver, Governor Rick Scott appeared at a press conference to announce that he will urge the Florida Legislature in the upcoming session to approve an initial three-year Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. It appears that Governor Scott is the first Governor so far to propose only a three-year expansion. The Governor described this approach as “a commonsense solution to dealing with this for the next three years” that will give Florida policymakers sufficient time “ to think about how we can improve the system.” The remaining question is whether the Florida Senate and Florida House also will embrace Medicaid expansion, which is far from certain at this time.
