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Medicaid Mental Health Strategy

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Florida Shifts Medicaid Mental Health Strategy Issues: Seeking to improve care and lower costs, Florida became the first state to offer a Medicaid health plan designed exclusively for people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar conditions. The plan offered by Connecticut-based Magellan Complete Care - is part of a state experimentation to co-ordinate physical and mental healthcare for those enrolled in Medicaid. Mental illness is a big driver of Medicaid costs because it is twice as prevalent among beneficiaries of the public insurance program for the poor as it is among the general population. Studies show that enrollees with mental illness, who also have chronic physical conditions, account …show more content…

in 2009, according to a 2012 report by HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. About 35% of the country's more than 50 million Medicaid beneficiaries have some form of mental illness, according to a 2012 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Of those beneficiaries, 61% also have a chronic physical …show more content…

The Florida state government is directly involved in this public health policy, since it is has the authority to make changes to the federal-state run Medicaid program. The Sunshine state has opted out from the Medicaid expansion program under the ACA. The Governor of Florida Rick Scott (Republican) endorsed Medicaid expansion, however the state’s GOP-led legislature rejected it. The Republicans have a majority in Florida state-legislature, whereas the ACA act was passed by the Democrats-led federal government under President Obama. The federal government could not require states to adopt the Medicaid expansion. The states must proactively enact legislation to expand their Medicaid program. Since it is non-binding on the states, the state legislatures have the final word whether or not to participate in the expanded Medicaid

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