Governor Scott doubtful about expanding Medicaid

Florida and more than two dozen other states lost the battle over health care reform before the U.S. Supreme Court, but state leaders say the war is not over yet.

Governor Rick Scott and other governors could stall or block key provisions of the law.

Expanding Medicaid is an important component of the law—that's the mechanism designed to provide coverage for low income individuals who do not currently qualify for Medicaid.

But the U.S. Supreme Court gave states a loophole to not comply.  

"The Supreme Court said you cannot coerce the states into cooperating with that Medicaid expansion," said James Capretta, a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Twenty-six states challenged the health care law. And no governor has challenged it harder than Florida Governor Rick Scott.

"It's going to be bad for patients, bad for taxpayers, bad for businesses," Scott said.

If Florida refuses to expand state Medicaid, it could by some estimates affect an estimated 1.1 million people in Florida (who do not have coverage, and would have received it through Medicaid).

"It would really be devastating and breathtakingly irresponsible for Governor Rick Scott to reject funds to continue to fund Medicaid," said Darden Rice, an activist with Progress Florida. 

Meanwhile, more than a million other people who don't have coverage would get partially reimbursed for insurance. They would buy policies through a state exchange.

But that assumes the state will create the exchange. So far, Florida has done nothing to get that started, and it is supposed to be up and running by 2014. If Florida does not implement an exchange, the federal government would start and run one in Florida.