Florida pushing new fees for most Medicaid recipients

I looked at the state of Florida requirements for getting Medicaid, and it appears only families with children, or elderly or disabled adults are eligible for Medicaid in Florida. So a poor, non-elderly single person is out of luck already.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/17/114331/florida-pushing-new-fees-for-most.html

By Phil Galewitz | Kaiser Health News

Florida wants to be the first state in the nation to charge most of its Medicaid recipients a monthly premium as well as $100 for using the ER for routine care. But even supporters acknowledge that the new fees, which the state legislature passed recently as part of a sweeping Medicaid measure, face long odds of getting federal approval.

Today, four states — Illinois, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — have Medicaid premiums. But those fees, in accordance with federal law, apply only to people who make more than 150 percent of the federal poverty level — $16,335 annually for an individual or $33,525 for a family of four.

Florida, however, wants to impose the $10 monthly premium on all Medicaid enrollees who aren't in nursing homes. At least two-thirds of Medicaid recipients in Florida, and in the U.S. as a whole, have incomes of less than 150 percent of the poverty level, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is a program of the foundation.)

About a dozen states charge Medicaid co-pays for routine care in emergency rooms, but none has fees higher than $20 for people who earn less than the poverty level. Seven of these states charge the fee only for recipients who make above 150 percent of the poverty level.

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