Governor Bush's Comments on Medicaid Reform 12/10/05

Posted on Sat, Dec. 10, 2005


FLORIDA GOVERNMENT
Medicaid reform benefits Broward patients

BY JEB BUSH
www.myflorida.com

On Thursday, the Florida Legislature passed significant legislation to begin a historic statewide reform of Florida's Medicaid program. This legislation will offer more choices to Florida Medicaid participants and flexibility to providers to respond to the diverse needs of the more than two million Floridians who rely on Medicaid.

The first phase of the reform plan will be implemented in Duval and Broward counties. Thanks to the hard work and vision of the Legislature and the Agency for Health Care Administration, thousands of patients in these counties will soon have the opportunity to receive better healthcare and costs will become more predictable, allowing the state to better manage spending.

We will expand Medicaid reform to the rest of Florida within five years after closely reviewing results and best practices in the pilot counties.

This reform will empower participants to choose coordinated healthcare plans that best meet their needs, while spurring innovation, efficiency and improvements in the quality and access of care.

Florida's model will use time-honored market principles to drive better results. We want to improve health outcomes for the more than two million vulnerable, elderly and disabled Floridians who depend on Medicaid by enhancing their access to quality care and creating incentives for providers and consumers to focus on prevention.

By doing so, we will stabilize the program's costs while maintaining current eligibility and broadening the scope of services. We will empower consumers with unprecedented choice and unleash the innovative and competitive talents of providers.

Participants, with the assistance of counselors, will choose the best plan for them. Or, they can choose to opt out of Medicaid plans and use their state-paid premium to purchase insurance in the private market.

We will also give participants credits for approved health-related expenses such as smoking cessation classes and other health services not covered in their plan. This will encourage participants to engage in healthy lifestyle choices, improving health and lowering acute care costs.

Healthcare providers will be able to compete for participants by offering innovative care, convenient networks and optional services. This will harness the power of the marketplace to drive inefficiency and fraud out of the system.

In a competitive market environment, healthcare providers will search for ways to raise the quality of care and lower costs. And by introducing incentives to reward healthy lifestyle choices and giving consumers more input into their healthcare, we will improve the health of our citizens.

In addition, the inefficiencies caused by lack of choice, lack of focus on preventive care and lack of competition have made Medicaid's growth unsustainable. This year Florida's Medicaid Program will cost a record $15.5 billion -- nearly 25 percent of the state budget. Since 1999, our Medicaid costs have risen 120 percent.

Florida's average annual general revenue growth since 1999 is 5.5 percent. However, that robust rate of growth cannot keep up with Medicaid costs that have risen an average of 13 percent each year during the same period. If left unaddressed, Medicaid could consume nearly 60 percent of the state's budget by 2015, draining valuable resources away from education, public safety and other services.

This growth is not only unsustainable; it creates no corresponding increase in the quality or availability of services for the people who rely on Medicaid for healthcare.

Effective Medicaid reform will happen by giving states like Florida the power and the flexibility to build a Medicaid system for the 21st century. On Thursday in Florida, we took an important step not only to better serve Floridians but also to offer a model for other states to follow and give millions of citizens the healthcare they deserve.

Jeb Bush is governor of Florida.