{"id":2933,"date":"2013-01-08T13:46:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T18:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/?p=2933"},"modified":"2013-01-08T13:46:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T18:46:14","slug":"florida-governor-inflates-cost-of-medicaid-expansion-by-2600-to-avoid-implementing-obamacare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/2013\/01\/florida-governor-inflates-cost-of-medicaid-expansion-by-2600-to-avoid-implementing-obamacare\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Governor Inflates Cost Of Medicaid Expansion By 2,600% To Avoid Implementing Obamacare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/2013\/01\/florida-governor-inflates-cost-of-medicaid-expansion-by-2600-to-avoid-implementing-obamacare\/rick_scott\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2934\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-2934\" alt=\"Rick_Scott\" src=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Rick_Scott.jpg\" width=\"154\" height=\"231\" srcset=\"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Rick_Scott.jpg 220w, http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Rick_Scott-200x300.jpg 200w, http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Rick_Scott-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 154px) 100vw, 154px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Internal email messages uncovered by Health News Florida reveal that Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) is knowingly citing inaccurate cost estimates to justify his refusal to expand Florida\u2019s Medicaid program. Though the governor\u2019s office is fully aware that the numbers are wrong, Scott continues to use them anyway, the documents show.<\/p>\n<p>Florida, which has one of the highest rates of uninsurance in the nation, could extend health coverage to about one million low-income residents by accepting Obamacare\u2019s optional Medicaid expansion. But the governor \u2014 an ardent Obamacare opponent \u2014 has repeatedly said that expanding Medicaid would just be too expensive, claiming it would cost the state $26 billion over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>As Health News Florida reports, however, that figure from Florida\u2019s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is inflated because it doesn\u2019t take into account the full amount that the federal government will reimburse states for choosing to expand Medicaid. A more accurate analysis found that expansion would cost the state around $1 billion:<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE:<\/strong>\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/health\/2013\/01\/08\/1413281\/rick-scott-medicaid-estimate\/\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Governor Inflates Cost Of Medicaid Expansion By 2,600%<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Internal email messages uncovered by Health News Florida reveal that Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) is knowingly citing inaccurate cost estimates to justify his refusal to expand Florida\u2019s Medicaid program. Though the governor\u2019s office is fully aware that the numbers are wrong, Scott continues to use them anyway, the documents show. Florida, which has one&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,22,7],"tags":[63,57,250,531],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2933"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2936,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2933\/revisions\/2936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}