Florida Senate, House Clash On Medicaid Dental Care
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said Wednesday the Florida Senate and House are on a "collision course" about dental care as they revamp the state's Medicaid managed-care system.
Bean made the comment before his panel approved a bill (SB 1950) that would make a series of changes as the Agency for Health Care Administration prepares to move forward with a process to award new contracts worth billions of dollars to HMOs and other managed-care plans.
A House version of the bill (HB 7047) includes a controversial proposed change about how dental services are provided to beneficiaries.
That change, which is opposed by the Florida Dental Association, would bring dental services under the umbrella of the managed-care plans.
That would effectively undo a 2016 decision by the Legislature to create a separate Medicaid managed-care program for dental care — known in Tallahassee as a "carve-out" of the services.
The Senate version does not include the proposed change. "Everything stays the same in dental in this (Senate) version," Senate sponsor Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, said.
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