Medicaid

Though the majority of Medicaid recipients have smartphones, most states - including Florida - will rely on snail mail and email to tell people their coverage is at risk with the end of the COVID public health emergency.

Florida's largest Medicaid vendor had until Thursday to dispute the penalty imposed last month by the state Agency for Health Care Administration, leaving the company with one option: pay the fine.

Many companies have dropped commissions during the Biden administration's special enrollment period. The industry’s trade group says that people who sign up outside the end-of-the-year window tend to be sicker, driving up the price of insurance.

The Department of Justice accused BayCare of making donations to a Pinellas County organization in order to increase its share of federal Medicaid funds.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed 42 bills, including a heavily debated measure that will change staffing standards in nursing homes. The nursing-home industry lobbied for the measure.

The enrollment period started in March and is open to anyone making 150% of the federal poverty level or less.

Sens. Robert Casey Jr. and Ron Wyden want a probe into what barriers are keeping Medicaid plans from reaching enrollees.

The payment problems left families in Florida with critically ill children who relied on Medicaid-paid health providers stranded.

Tom Wallace, an AHCA deputy secretary, says that state and federal officials have had “back and forth” since December about proposed changes in what is known as a waiver that plays a critical role in the Medicaid program.

The House proposal could have led to withholding what are known as Medicaid “supplemental” payments from essential providers that do not reach agreements to be part of managed-care networks.

Medicare has proposed limiting coverage of Aduhelm and several prominent groups representing patients and families are pressing to make it more widely available. But among individuals facing the disease, the outlook is more nuanced.

Among the budget items agreed upon is $20 million a year for 30 years to help finance a Moffitt Cancer Center expansion in Pasco County, and suspending state gas taxes in October.