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The Senate Select Committee on the Patient Protection Act today voted seven to four not to expand Medicaid to a million Floridians. The vote was along party lines. Governor Rick Scott had called for the expansion for three years. But the committee chairman, Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart says he wants a Florida solution to the problem of the uninsured.

“We don’t want Washington telling Florida how to provide insurance for people, and the traditional Medicaid expansion really puts people into a system that’s precarious. What I would like to explore is using available federal and perhaps state dollars to provide private health insurance for our fellow Floridians who work everyday” says Negron.

Advocate Karen Woodall from the Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy says she was prepared for the loss and sees hope that the discussion is not over. 

“But I think it was important the message was we are going to continue this conversation. We recognize we need to bring our federal tax dollars back into this state and we want to work on some alternative plans” says Woodall. 

 The Federal Government would have paid the total cost of the expansion for the first three years. After that, the states share would have been ten cents on the dollar.