Florida will pay Medicaid docs at new Obamacare rate

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Tuesday, 11.20.12
Florida will pay Medicaid docs at new Obamacare rate
By John Dorschner
[e-mail]

Starting Jan. 1, Florida will start paying Medicaid primary care doctors at new higher rates required by the federal Affordable Care Act, a state spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Shelisha Coleman, spokeswoman for The Agency for Health Care Administration, said some budgetary details need to be worked out with the legislature and the governor’s office, but there was no question that payments will be made.

“We are still working with our partners to determine how to expand our budget authority for the current fiscal year,” Coleman said in an email. “However, we will be implementing the increase per federal law.”

The law requires that for the next two years Medicaid must pay primary care doctors at much better Medicaid rates. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Florida primary care doctors in 2008 were paid 55 percent of Medicare rates, meaning a $50 payment would be increased to $90 under the new system.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/20/3106148/ahca-rethinking-medicaid-doc-pay.html

[HockeyMom]

1. The Space Alien is looking to get re-elected

If Romney had won, and Ricky's Amendment, then it would be a different story. He is just protecting his own ass.

[lalalu]

2. The question is will this get doctors to take more Medicaid patients.

[JackRiddler]

3. The last quoted sentence must be mistaken.

The law requires that for the next two years Medicaid must pay primary care doctors at much better Medicaid rates. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Florida primary care doctors in 2008 were paid 55 percent of Medicare rates, meaning a $50 payment would be increased to $90 under the new system.

Presumably: "much better Medicare rates." The following sentence suggests as much.

[On the Road]

5. Good Catch

These little errors can accumulate and screw up the whole discussion.

[krakfiend]

4. what happens if???

here is something i wondered? we hear a lot of republican governors refusing the obamacare plan. but what actually happens to them? how can Obama force them or persuade them to go with his plan? if his plan is the law of the land, and they refuse, then what happens?

[Orangepeel]

8. part of the plan expands medicade so more people are eligible. states can opt out of that part

because the supreme court said so. They can't opt out of the rest. what happens is that fewer people will be covered unless people vote state lawmakers out.

Another part of the plan requires states to have an exchange -- a set of insurance plans that meet certain requirements that people can shop from. The states can decide not to set one up, but the federal government will do that for them.

[Scurrilous]

6. It's a start.

[Akoto]

7. As a Floridian on Medicaid ...

I must say that this is welcome news! For a while now, it has been increasingly difficult to find physicians who take Medicaid. They just aren't reimbursed enough to make it worth their while. Of those who do, some are (and I say this hesitantly) of less than ideal quality. Unfortunately, when you are disabled and/or poor, you may have to go to whatever doctor Medicaid will pay for.

Hopefully, this will broaden options down here. I have been wanting a new GP for quite a while.