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Medicaid benefits could be next in line for budget cuts
House Speaker Marco Rubio said so-called loopholes have protected Florida from an even worse budget crunch.
TALLAHASSEE (Bay News 9) -- Parts of the Medicaid program are now high up on the chopping block in Tallahassee.
Vision, dental and hearing benefits could be cut, which would affect more than a 140,000 seniors.
The budget squeeze is putting more pressure on Florida's neediest, and some have said loopholes that benefit the wealthy need to be eliminated.
Cutting the "loopholes" could protect Medicaid, but some Republican leaders don't agree.
House Speaker Marco Rubio is standing by his numbers. He said what Democrats call loopholes have actually helped prevent an even worse crunch.
"What people don't understand is a lot of these industries are in Florida because of those exemptions," Rubio said. "If you don't have the exemptions, you don't have the industry, you don't have any tax to collect. Second, is they don't add up. Even if you took all of those, put them together, it doesn't add up to the number that avoids a $4 billion reduction.
Lawmakers are also considering scaling back money used to care for 20,000 organ transplant patients. And there may be cuts in staffing for Florida's nursing homes.
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