http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/06/1382949/-Rick-Scott-pleads-with-administration-to-give-him-federal-money-that-s-not-nbsp-Obamacare?detail=email
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is continuing his bizarre quest to get one kind of federal money because he doesn't want any money that might have anything to do with Obamacare. So he's not worried about federal government overreach, he's worried about Obamacare cooties. He's filed a lawsuit against the feds that will cost his state who knows how much money and on Wednesday traveled to Washington to meet with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to try to convince her to give him the non-Obamacare money.
The governor wants the administration to extend $1 billion in low-income pool funds for hospitals that treat uninsured and Medicaid patients and the federal government wants Florida to expand Medicaid so more people have insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Eight other states, including Texas, also receive the hospital funds and are closely watching the standoff between Florida and the federal government. Florida's funds are the first to expire on June 30th.
In some of his harshest comments yet, Scott criticized the agency for not giving an answer and essentially blowing apart budget talks.
"Before the session, HHS knew our budget timeline and they did not act to keep the LIP program," Scott said.
And before the session, Scott and the legislature knew that the LIP program was going to be cancelled in Florida—they were informed of that decision a year ago. If anybody has blown the budget talks apart, it's Scott and House Republicans—backed by the Koch brothers—who have refused to consider the solution the state's Republican Senate agreed upon, which is Medicaid expansion. For months, Scott sat out the debate. Then a few weeks ago he decided he had changed his mind about Medicaid expansion (he said he was for it when he was running for re-election last year) and became not just opposed to it, but unhinged about it.
Scott came out of the meeting talking tough. "I told her that we need federal action right now. The low-income families in our state cannot wait on the federal government any longer." One hopes that Burwell replied that they'd already been waiting far too long for Medicaid.
okay if the people have been waiting way to long for him to get what has been offered from the jump and costing Fla. nothing and benefiting millions but he refused because his party is against what they have demeaned from the beginning as an abomination now in doing so it's getting critical budget out of control and the people are seeing what they are missing after re-electing him once more voting against their own interest. not to mention Fla going underwater do to climate change did mention he passed a law that the gov't in Fla. can no longer use any words that mean climate change.
they should give them the money under the stipulation that Scott allocute his dereliction of duty on TV nationwide and reinstate the use of and admit to the reality of climate change. he acted like a Disney character Goofy and should be made to bend and beg for his constituents he abandoned just to deny Pres. but in reality denying Floridians healthcare and lying about it.
