Bloomberg interviewed Manatt's Cindy Mann, a partner in the firm's Healthcare practice, for an article on the uncompensated care pool funding that Florida will soon lose. On April 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' alerted the state that the $1.3 billion it receives annually to help hospitals cover the cost of treating uninsured patients will lapse at the end of June. Florida has opposed expanding Medicaid, and CMS announced that the uncompensated care pool funding should not pay for costs that would be covered in a Medicaid expansion.
States resisting Medicaid expansion shouldn't expect the federal government to extend special funds that are "above and beyond the normal workings of Medicaid," said Mann. "These were all started before the Affordable Care Act, and it's not surprising CMS is looking to focus its funding on these pools for care that wouldn't be otherwise covered by Medicaid."