Florida Medicaid officials in Washington, D.C.
A bevy of Florida Medicaid officials are in Washington, D.C., for a nationwide conference on Medicaid.
Freshly appointed Medicaid Director Brian Meyer is attending the National Association for Medicaid Directors annual conference. Joining him are Assistant Deputy Secretary for Health Care Data Matt Cooper; Assistant Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Operations Pamela Hull; Bureau Chief for Medicaid Policy Ann Dalton; and Chief of Medicaid Recipient and Provider Assistance Dietra Cole.
The buzz on the scene, one source told the Florida Phoenix, is who President-elect Donald Trump will choose to run the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within HHS. Trump has alluded to making Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the head of HHS, a position that would require Senate confirmation.
Some of the topics being discussed by attendees include the possibility of Medicaid block grants and the potential repeal of parts of the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.
Medicaid is a safety net health care program for the poor, elderly, and people with disabilities. It is jointly funded by the state and federal governments. States hold broad authority over how they operate their programs, but they must adhere to federal rules and regulations. Medicaid directors oversee state Medicaid and the optional Medicaid expansion known as the children’s health insurance programs, often referred to as CHIP.
The NAMD includes the top Medicaid officials from each state as well as D.C. and U.S. territories; there are 56 members of the NAMD in all.
None of the Florida Medicaid officials are featured on any of the NAMD discussion panels for Tuesday or Wednesday.
Speaking at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government over the weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wasn’t seeking any position in the Trump administration.
“I think for me, I’m not seeking anything,” DeSantis said, not directly addressing whether he has been in communication with Trump’s team. “I’ve got a great job in the state of Florida. … How can I best make a difference? I think, you know, given where we are, I think me quarterbacking the Sunshine State is probably how I make the biggest difference.”
DeSantis did take to social media, though, to lobby on behalf of the Department of Health Secretary and State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo to head CMS.
Dr. Scott Rivkees, who was DeSantis’s first state surgeon general and is now at Brown University, has been critical of Ladapo and told the Washington Post last week that he should not be considered for such an important position.
“To consider someone with Dr. Ladapo’s stated attitudes towards commonly held medical and public health practices for a leadership role in HHS, which is an agency that protects and promotes our well-being, should make us all worry,” Rivkees told the Post.