Cap shifts costs onto hospitals, legislators say (Jeb Bush)

Gov. Bush's health plan under fire for effect on hospitals


Cap shifts costs onto hospitals, legislators say

By Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
Posted January 27 2005

TALLAHASSEE · Financially strapped hospitals serving large numbers of uninsured patients, like St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, could find themselves in a tougher pinch under Gov. Jeb Bush's Medicaid reform plan, legislators warned Wednesday.

Bush has proposed that the state's 2.3 million Medicaid recipients be allotted money like a voucher to buy their own health care coverage from managed care organizations and other private medical networks. If enacted, the program would make Florida the first state to allow private companies, not the state, to decide the scope and extent of services to the elderly, disabled and the poor, half of them children.

As part of the plan, Florida would put an annual cap on per-patient Medicaid spending. The goal of the cap, Bush aides say, is to create a financial incentive for private companies to enroll the state's vulnerable population in their health care networks.

But several legislators, including Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, have begun publicly questioning whether the strategy will only shift health spending from the federal and state governments onto the shoulders of local governments and private hospitals.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chealth27jan27,0,6698819.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla

They're all the same, leading the unaware into a downward spiral of destitution.

Ugh. I can't believe this is on the table. It's been shown to be ineffective at anything except lining the pockets of administrators while denying necessary care to patients.