A federal judge ruled on May 13 in a lawsuit over people who were removed from Florida's Medicaid program after the end of the federal public health emergency declared in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A trial is scheduled for today.
Jacksonville-based U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard issued an order last week setting a trial date, according to court documents.
Lawyers for Medicaid recipients filed a potential class-action lawsuit in August, alleging the state failed to properly inform people before removing them from the health care program. They filed an amended version of the lawsuit in January.
The lawsuit stems from the lifting of the federal public health emergency last spring. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, and the Washington government agreed to receive more funding for the program as part of the emergency. But in exchange for additional funding, states had to agree not to remove people from Medicaid rolls during the emergency.
The number of beneficiaries in Florida's program increased from about 3.8 million in January 2020 to about 5.78 million in April 2023. At least in part, this increase is due to the program's failure to exclude people who may not be eligible due to their income levels.
After the public health emergency ended, the state adopted what is known as the eligibility “redetermination” process. This process resulted in hundreds of thousands of people dropping out of the program.
As of February, there were about 4.8 million people registered, according to data posted on the state Health Care Agency's website.
