Florida's Republican leaders are moving ahead with a controversial plan to create Medicaid vouchers, which critics warn could leave tens of thousands of low-income Floridians without adequate health care.

  • HM 7033 would move Florida's Medicaid system to a voucher system
  • Contingent on Trump administration making it easier for states to tinker with health care
  • Critics: If recipients get sick, vouchers won't provide enough money
  • RELATED: Find out how many Floridians have Medicaid coverage

The GOP is bargaining on the Trump administration crafting a health care reform package including a Medicaid block grant scheme, 

The voucher proposal has been discussed in Tallahassee for years but has been stymied by Washington's refusal to allow states to craft their own rules for Medicaid. The low-income health care system is federally funded to the tune of $26 billion in Florida -- almost a third of the state's budget.

This week, however, President Trump told a meeting of the nation's governors that more leeway is imminent.

"We're going to give you back a lot of the powers that have been taken away from states and great people and great governors, and you can control it better than the federal government because you're right on top of it," Trump told the governors at the White House.

While the specifics of the administration's plan have yet to be fleshed out, legislative leaders are wasting little time in developing a framework for a Medicaid program funded by block grant. Florida House legislation HM 7033 forsees a "consumer-driven, free market program that integrates (Medicaid) enrollees into the larger health care system" by allowing them to spend fixed-amount vouchers on doctors and hospitals of their choice.

"Whether it's education, transportation, health care...free us up, give us that ability to go out there and craft something, because we think we're tremendously better suited to go out there and do something for the people," House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R-Land O'Lakes) told reporters last week.

Consumer advocates are taking issue with the voucher approach, arguing that many Medicaid patients require costly care that wouldn't be fully covered by the vouchers. If Congress does allow the administration to give Florida a Medicaid block grant, activists are promising an aggressive effort to defeat the voucher plan in the legislature.

But they'd almost certainly face the political might of Gov. Rick Scott, who was present at the White House gathering and has championed the idea of a Medicaid block grant since taking office in 2011. While patients would be forced to pay their own bills, Scott says providers would likewise be forced to lower their rates in line with the value of the vouchers.

"We pay these federal taxes that they want to give back to us in different programs," Scott said. "Let us run the programs the way we believe for our state. If we don't do it the right way, our citizens won't re-elect us."