\u201cFlorida serves the fourth-highest number of Medicaid patients in the nation, and the approval of the Directed Payment Program is critical for helping Florida hospitals stay financially viable to serve vulnerable patients,\u201d Dunn spokesperson Eleanor Allison said in an email to Florida Politics.<\/p>\n
Hospital leaders from Florida have increasingly found themselves lobbying in Washington. Mary Mayhew, President of the Florida Hospital Association<\/a>, said the approvals were a top concern for the entire industry in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a program proposal from the state of Florida to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that is inexplicably stuck. Meanwhile, the federal government has approved 32 other states for similar programs,\u201d Mayhew said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re one of just four states that has yet to be approved. We run a lean Medicaid program in Florida. We\u2019re 47th in the country in per capita Medicaid spending. This is irrational that CMS is standing between the state of Florida and the ability to support critical health care services. Honestly, I\u2019m dumbfounded. This is so straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n The issue marks a significant departure from CMS treatment of other states, and Republicans have pointed to officials from President Joe Biden\u2019s administration as potential sources of the delays. A majority of Republicans in Florida\u2019s congressional delegation signed the letters, which assert that Florida\u2019s program aligns with President Donald Trump\u2019s conservative agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout agency intervention, CMS is threatening to ignore the rulings of two Trump-appointed federal judges and force Biden-era policies into the language of the waiver. This result would impose unnecessary oversight burdens on the state,\u201d reads the letter sent by Dunn\u2019s Office from February 2025.<\/p>\n That letter was also signed by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, the Longboat Key Republican who chairs the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee. Republicans U.S. Reps. Aaron Bean, Gus Bilirakis, Kat Cammack, Mario D\u00edaz-Balart, Byron Donalds, Carlos Gim\u00e9nez, Laurel Lee,\u00a0John Rutherford, Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar and Greg Steube all cosigned the letter.<\/p>\n Dunn, a medical doctor, said the approval was part of a \u201ctroubling saga of CMS playing games with our home state.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida in 2021 launched, with CMS approval, its hospital-directed supplemental payment program to assist the state\u2019s Medicaid providers. But the program was audited, and Republican lawmakers say politics fueled funding.<\/p>\n \u201cDisturbingly, while Florida faced scrutiny, states led by Democratic governors, such as California, escaped investigation despite very public accounts detailing that California had the same system of private arrangements,\u201d Dunn\u2019s letter reads.<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, during the same timeframe Florida was under CMS fire, CMS committed a historically large sum to support California Medicaid.\u201d<\/p>\n Years of fights between Florida and the Biden administration resulted in audits and legal fights. But in 2024, the Democratic administration announced it would hold Florida and other states harmless for payment programs until 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the Trump administration returned to power last year, Florida medical leaders hoped for a smooth return to accepting the policies. But an extension of Florida\u2019s program has remained in limbo since, and CMS has raised new objections to the program.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin 72 hours of Election Day, CMS informed Florida that more audit questions were imminent,\u201d Dunn\u2019s letter said. \u201cFlorida and its hospitals once again face unjustified uncertainty, with the potential to impact over 4.2 million Floridians eligible for Medicaid.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FAC_728x90_web-ad_03.jpeg\")
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