On June 3, 2005 Governor Jeb Bush signed historic legislation aimed at reforming Medicaid, the health insurance program for more than 2.1 million low-income families -- elderly and disabled Floridians.  

The legislation (Senate Bill 838) permits the Governor of Florida to submit a “Section 1115” Medicaid waiver proposal to the federal government and to implement Medicaid reforms on a pilot basis.  

Basically, this means Florida will have carte blanche to do whatever it wants with respect to Medicaid, and the thrust all during this year has been to change it dramatically without worrying about the impact on so many of Florida’s citizens. 

The “basic plan” is to have all of Medicaid in Florida managed by HMO for-profit providers -- not too different from the Medicare HMO situations that many Floridians have already experienced.

At the present time, it is believed that the pilot program will consist of two parts – one in the Jacksonville area and one in the Broward County area.

Governor Bush’s budget has about four times as much money in the pilot as there has been allocated to the normal aging network – that is, home-based and community-based programs.

The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF), one of the strong leader’s of Florida’s “watchdog” coalition on this issue, has just issued a policy brief entitled “Understanding Florida’s Medicaid Reform Legislation” that is now available at  www.wphf.org.   (The Winter Park Health Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization that funds research and programs to improve the health of children and youth, the elderly, and the uninsured.)

Changes in the way Medicaid is managed impacts so many of our citizens.  It seems important for all of us to understand what the proposed changes are, and that is one of the main purposes of the brief.