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You could soon be rewarded for shopping around for less expensive medical procedures.

Part of a multifaceted approach by Republican lawmakers to cut down on medical costs.

Nearly half of the state’s annual budget goes to health care.

House Speaker Jose Oliva says the rising costs for both the state and consumers is the result of a lack of competition in the market place.

“We have to bring in some real market forces into it so that people have to compete for that business,” said Oliva.

A new bill aims to incentivize patients to shop for the lowest cost procedures.

It would allow insurance companies to return 25% or more of the money policy holders save by finding cheaper options.

Those savings could then go towards paying off policy holders’ premiums or future health care costs.

“It’s a chance to actually spend a few minutes and save money and put money in your pocket,” said Bill Sponsor Rep. Paul Renner. “And who wouldn’t do that?”

Other proposals include importing cheaper Canadian drugs and encouraging certain medical procedures to be conducted outside of hospitals, where costs are higher.

“You put all those together and we start to see a better market, a lower cost for Floridians, while improving access and maintaining the high quality that we have in the state,” said Renner.

Democrats say Medicaid expansion is missing from Republican’s health care fixes.

“All the polling has shown Floridians support the expansion of Medicaid,” said Senator Annette Taddeo.

Taddeo is sponsoring a constitutional amendment to put Medicaid expansion on the 2020 ballot.

“We’re leaving money at the table, money that we send to the Federal government that should be coming back to cover approximately 800,000 Floridians,” said Taddeo.

Republicans have traditionally opposed Medicaid expansion, arguing the system is already overwhelmed and adding more people to the program would reduce the quality of care.

If Democrats aren’t able to push their proposed amendment through the Legislature, there’s also citizen’s initiative collecting signatures that could put the question of Medicaid expansion before voters in 2020.