More Florida Medicaid Means Higher Property Taxes in Small Counties

TALLAHASSEE (News Service of Florida) -- Some of Florida’s smaller and poorer counties are worried that expanding Medicaid access to low-income childless adults could force them to raise property taxes.

The “fiscally constrained counties” expressed their concerns to Florida economists, who are conducting an analysis of a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the state to expand Medicaid to low-income childless adults.

In a July 8 email, Small County Coalition of Florida lobbyist Chris Doolin told Amy Baker, the state's chief economist, that it would be “important to identify” which counties are at or near a tax cap that limits the amount of revenue that can be collected by counties through property taxes. 

Counties are concerned about the issue because they contribute to the state’s required share of the cost of the Medicaid program, which provides health care to the poor, elderly and disabled. The Agency for Health Care Administration annually calculates how much counties must contribute to the overall cost, which is shared by the federal government. In fiscal year 2019-20, Florida counties will contribute $302 million to the $29 billion health-care program. 

Baker mentioned the county’s concerns during a meeting of the Financial Impact Estimating Conference last week, where economists agreed that about 260,000 people would enroll in Medicaid program if Florida were to expand the program as allowable under Obamacare. The 260,000 estimate is about 44 percent of the Floridians who would qualify for the program under an expansion.

The proposed constitutional amendment, backed by the Florida Decides Healthcare political committee, would expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults between the ages of 18 and 65 who earn 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The committee has collected nearly 80,000 signatures in support of the amendment, enough to reach the threshold triggering judicial and economic reviews of the proposal. 

Florida Decides Healthcare must collect more than 766,000 signatures from registered voters for the proposal to make it onto the 2020 ballot. 

Photo Credit: Getty Images


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