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Counties Could Sue Over Medicaid Billing; Escambia Owes $6.2 Million
April 12, 2012
The Florida Association of Counties could decide Thursday whether to file a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s decision to recoup tens of millions of dollars in disputed Medicaid costs from counties.
Under the law, Escambia County owes about $6.2 million to the state for disputed Medicaid bills that have been adding up for about a decade.
At least one county — Manatee — is ready to go to court; the Manatee County Commission voted 6-0 Tuesday to pursue a lawsuit or to join other counties in a case.
The Legislature last month approved recouping the money, with leaders contending that counties have not fully made required Medicaid payments. Counties, however, argue that the state’s billing system has major flaws. The state says Manatee County owes about $4 million in back payments.
The News Service Florida contributed to this report.
Comments
7 Responses to “Counties Could Sue Over Medicaid Billing; Escambia Owes $6.2 Million”
Part of the problem in Escambia county is lack of gainful employment. That forces people to rely on the system, even if they don’t want to. If these are contested bills why weren’t they addressed a long time ago?
I would just tell Scott and his boys to come and collect, if they are feeling up to the
task.
I would further suggest a place for them to go to.
Way to go Mike, I am in total agreement with you. A question was asked in the meeting about why Baptist and Sacred Heart held no responsibility, Kevin White replied “good question”. If all of this money is from DISPUTED invoices regarding care the hospitals provided then the county gets points for finding these mistakes. Which brings us back to why are the hospitals not accountable for their inaccurate invoices?
Cheryl,
Remember, these are contested Medicaid bills. These are bills Escambia County sent back to the state with discrepancies.
Some of these were bills from people with addresses in Escambia County Alabama. Some with addresses in Gulf Breeze to name a few.
What the state is doing can be viewed with this example. You receive a MasterCard bill with numerous charges you did not make. You formally contest these charges and do not pay MasterCard for them.
Several years later MasterCard is unable to balance their budget. They decide to make you pay this amount. It’s not an option, they garnish your income before you get it. If you opt not to take MasterCard to court they will only garnish 85% of your contested amount. If you do file with the court your garnished @ 100%.
Hope that helps….
I agree Kathy, but I’m assuming mismanagement on our county level created the problem in the first place. Santa Rosa has a $600,000 bill, while Escambia has a whopping 6.2 million? But I don’t know all the facts. Just seems Escambia County is always in first place for being the worse, no matter what the issue is.
Gee, saving millions couldn’t be cheaper in the end now could it? Scott is screwing the Counties and the Counties need to stand up and get counted. A lot cheaper than paying Scott’s charges and giving big business more money.
Gee, I wonder who will front the bill for the lawsuit?