Medicaid Waivers Opposed By 107 Groups

By Sammy Mack -

A group of 107 health organizations are asking the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reject Florida’s request to move Medicaid recipients into managed care.

In a letter to CMS director Cynthis Mann, the opponents urge the agency to “reject the State’s soon-to-be-filed Waiver application as deficient and unresponsive to a host of previously identified problems.”

107 Florida health organizations oppose the waivers.

Florida Community Health Action Information Network (CHAIN) identifies the following problems:

- A lack of protections for low income children, pregnant women, seniors, and persons with disabilities;

- Conflicts with federal law, including cruel requirements to charge unaffordable premiums and co-payments;

- A risky timetable that would move Florida’s seniors into private managed care starting next summer and provide a financial incentive for moving them out of nursing homes;

- A history of fraud and abuse by prominent Medicaid HMOs.

This reporter can be reached at smack@miamiherald.com.