Florida Gov. Rick Scott has pitched an idea to help hospitals in his states handle the potential loss of federal funding for the Low Income Pool program — profit sharing.
In a letter to Florida hospital executives, Gov. Scott asked for input on ways to use their collective $3.7 billion in profits to help the state "transition from being dependent on federal LIP funding," according to the Miami Herald.
"This would be similar to how large market baseball teams share revenues with small market baseball teams," Gov. Scott wrote in the letter to hospital executives, according to the Miami Herald.
Florida has had a Medicaid waiver since 2005, and the state has received between $1 billion and $2 billion from the federal government annually to support its LIP program to aid the state's safety-net hospitals. In April, CMS sent a letter to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration suggesting that the fate of the state's LIP program is tied to Florida's decision on Medicaid expansion.
"The state's expansion status is an important consideration in our approach regarding extending the LIP beyond June," wrote Vikki Wachino, acting director of CMS' Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, in the letter to the FAHCA. "We believe that the future of the LIP, sufficient provider rates, and Medicaid expansion are linked in considering a solution for Florida's low income citizens, safety-net providers and tax payers."
In response, Gov. Scott filed a lawsuit against the federal government for allegedly withholding money from Florida to force it into expanding Medicaid.
The governor's profit sharing idea comes as lawmakers are in a stalemate over how to fund growing healthcare costs in Florida, according to the report.