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“Rick Scott’s Hissy Fit”: Impatiently Snapping His Fingers At Sylvia Burwell Won’t Do Him Any Good

Rick Scott’s clearly a man who expects others to snap to it when he asks for something. But his demand that the Obama administration instantly give him assurances they’ll agree with his construction of an incredibly technical interplay between the Medicaid expansion option he’s now flip-flopped a second time to oppose, and an existing Low-Income Pool program who’s beneficiaries overlap with Medicaid’s, is now turning into a hissy fit, per this report from The Hill‘s Peter Sullivan:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) on Wednesday demanded an answer from the Obama administration “right now” on the renewal of federal funds for hospitals in his state, amid a showdown over ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion.

“I’ve let them know our timeline and we need an answer right now,” Scott told reporters outside the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington after meeting with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.

According to HHS, Burwell gave Scott the “preliminary view” that the state’s current proposal falls short of the administration’s requirements.

At issue are federal funds to reimburse hospitals in Florida for treating uninsured people, known as the Low Income Pool (LIP). Scott is suing the Obama administration, alleging that the administration is withholding the funds in an effort to force the state to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.

The administration counters that Florida is free to expand Medicaid or not, and that the decision on LIP funding will be made “regardless” of whether the state expands Medicaid.

You don’t have to go all the way down into the weeds to understand this; the administration obviously does want to keep the pressure up on Scott to do the right thing, and Florida hospitals are probably giving their Governor holy hell for not only rejecting the cornucopia of dollars from a Medicaid expansion, but jeopardizing their existing federal funds while he’s at it. But in any event, HHS has a good excuse for delaying any final decision on Scott’s proposal for a larger LIP program than would normally be the case:

HHS pointed out that the proposal is still in the middle of a 30-day public comment period in Florida, a step before its final decision on the proposal.

“HHS is continuing to engage with Florida on the state’s LIP proposal, even as the period for public comment in Florida is underway,” the readout said. “HHS heard the Governor’s request for a timely response to help the state meet its budget timeline. HHS believes completion of the public comment period, on-going discussions with the state, and the state’s submission of its proposal to CMS are the next steps in the process.”

That doesn’t meet Scott’s politically driven timetable, of course, so he’s impatiently snapping his fingers at Sylvia Burwell.

Don’t think it will do him any good.

By: Ed Kilgore, Contributing Writer, Political Animal Blog, The Washington Monthly, May 7, 2015

May 11, 2015 - Posted by raemd95 | Medicaid Expansion, Rick Scott | DHHS, Federal Funds, Low Income Pool, Medicaid Waivers, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, uninsured