TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott says he is suing the Obama administration for withholding hospital funds because the state won’t expand Medicaid.
In a statement Thursday, Scott said he was appalled that President Barack Obama “would cut off federal health care dollars to Florida in an effort to force our state further into Obamacare.”
The news comes as the state has been locked in a yearlong battle with the feds over roughly $1 billion in hospital funds that has taken a nasty turn in recent weeks with accusations on both sides.
The Obama administration wants Florida to expand Medicaid to more than 800,000 low-income people as part of the solution for releasing the hospital funds.
The state sent the administration a letter Wednesday noting a Supreme Court decision that said the federal government couldn’t coerce states into expanding Medicaid.
Scott is against Medicaid expansion because he doesn’t trust the federal government to pay its share. The feds have said they will never pay less than 90 percent of the tab.
GARY FINEOUT AND KELLI KENNEDY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
