Jeb has a complicated history with Medicaid in Florida.
The praise:
“Ultimately, the program did what Jeb Bush said it would do: control Medicaid costs and reduce the rate of spending growth. A 2014 University of Florida study, commissioned by the state, found that counties in the pilot did a better job of controlling costs than those in traditional Medicaid. Spending did not go down, but it rose much more slowly: an average of $1 per person per month in the pilot counties, compared with $28 elsewhere in the state.”
The criticism:
“Rather than allowing more choice to improve upon traditional Medicaid, Bush’s liberal critics say he gave private managed-care plans too much leeway to design the benefits, which allowed them to “cherry-pick” the healthiest, lowest-cost beneficiaries. Networks of hospitals and doctors were limited. And consumers found the lack of standard benefits confusing; some ended up with inadequate coverage that didn’t give them the health care they needed.”
Source: Jeb Bush’s Medicaid fix: More choices, fewer benefits? – Jennifer Haberkorn – POLITICO
