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Governor Rick Scott is on his way to meet with Federal officials over funding for Hospitals know as the Low Income Pool, or LIP funding.  The Feds have said they will not continue the program and Florida is suing. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the same funding is keeping lawmakers from balancing the state budget.

Federal officials have said they will not send more than a billion dollars to Florida unless the state agrees to increase Medicaid options for the working poor. It has promoted Attorney General Pam Bondi to file a lawsuit alleging cohesion.

“Because we’ve had it for nearly a decade and they said in writing that they would take it away if we did not expand Medicaid. If that’s not coercion I don’t know what is” says Bondi.

The money in question is used to reimburse hospitals who treat people who can’t pay.

What’s unusual here is that Low Income Pool or LIP funding is voluntary. The state doesn’t have to take it, the Federal Government doesn’t have to offer it.

On Tuesday Governor Rick Scott left for Washington to meet with federal officials to convince them to keep the money flowing,

“Today my goal is just focus again hoping to reconsider, the reason I’m doing this is that we’ve got to get a budget done”  Scott said in a response to a question about the law suit.

The battle for increased health care funding has created a civil war in the Florida legislature…it led to last weeks premature adjournment that the Supreme court has said was unconstitutional. The Senate wants to take federal money to expand health care. The House doesn’t. Scott is again siding with the House.

“There’s no support in the House, I’m not going to support it, it’s not a program that has worked” says Scott/In Washington, Scott says he will float the idea of a block grant, or lump sum of money to provide care on the state’s terms.

Governor Scott also today issued an Executive Order creating a yet to be named commission to study hospital profits.