Florida’s Medicaid spending on migrants has nosedived by 54% thus far this yr after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bid to push again towards unlawful immigration.
Some observers concern that DeSantis’ transfer to drive folks to disclose their immigration standing at hospitals is maintaining them away from looking for pressing care, thus driving down the Medicaid spending.
Final fiscal yr, earlier than the Florida regulation, $148.4 million in state and federal Medicaid funds helped cowl emergency take care of migrants in Florida, in response to knowledge obtained by Politico.
However as of Might 3, with solely about two months left of the fiscal yr, solely $67 million has been spent on this system.
Final yr, DeSantis signed Senate Invoice 1718, which mandated hospitals ask sufferers about their citizenship standing.
Hospitals had been additionally required to apprise the Florida Company for Well being Care Administration in regards to the breakdown of citizenship amongst those that obtained remedy.
The laws was a part of a invoice that enacted a broader crackdown on unlawful immigration into Florida, together with by mandating immigration-status verification with employers who’ve 25 or extra employees.
DeSantis signed the regulation throughout a legislative frenzy simply earlier than he kicked off his unsuccessful 2024 bid for the Republican presidential nod.
Medicaid is a program that helps present well being take care of these in monetary want and receives a mixture of each state and federal funding. This system is distinct from Medicare, which providers the aged.
Spending on emergency protection for immigrants from Medicaid in Florida had been on a downward trajectory earlier than the signing of 1718 however was nowhere close to the present drop.
The Put up reached out to the Florida AHCA to inquire in regards to the knowledge.
Florida’s finances for the subsequent fiscal yr allocates $557,882 to assist shore up AHCA’s program to look at healthcare prices spent on unlawful immigrants.
Again in March, AHCA dropped a report estimating that hospitals needed to cowl about $566 million value of health-care funds within the final half of 2023 for unlawful immigrants.
Florida hospitals are permitted to hunt emergency Medicaid cash for migrants which can be from the state’s Division of Kids and Households, Politico reported.
Most of these migrants are usually pregnant girls or people in want of life-saving remedies.
However these DCF authorizations seem to have dropped as effectively, from 147,000 in fiscal yr 2022 to 116,000 in 2023, and now to 99,000 as of April 30, Politico reported.
Supply hyperlink
