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With a looming 2 billion dollar budget hole over healthcare money to be decided in a special session, the Governor is pushing hospitals to crunch their numbers and re-evaluate spending. But as Matt Galka tells us, hospitals are pushing back.

Florida is set to lose out on a 2 billion dollar healthcare program that helps hospitals serving the poor.  The expiring federal program threw the state’s budget into chaos.  In response, the Governor assembled a hospital funding commission and has thrown around the idea that hospitals can start profit sharing in order to cover costs.  But the Florida Hospital Association isn’t on board.

Warren Jones handles communications for Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. TMH is one of the more than 200 hospitals represented by the Florida Hospital Association. The group fired off a letter rejecting the idea and instead continuing to back the Senate’s Medicaid expansion plan.

“Profits that we do make go back into our healthcare system. They’re reinvested here, so we use those dollars to purchase new equipment, purchase new buildings, build new buildings,” said Jones.

The Governor’s commission tasked with analyzing hospital funding will meet for the first time Wednesday.

Eugene Lamb was one of the nine members of the commission appointed by the Governor.  His background is in education, not healthcare, but he doesn’t want to speculate what the group will find.

“I don’t know what to expect myself, I’m just looking forward to me and my other colleagues on the commission to see what our mission is,” said Lamb.

Both the Florida House and the Governor have rejected the idea of Medicaid expansion as a hospital funding solution. Supporters say it will help nearly one million working poor Floridians. The Governor has turned around and sued the feds for allegedly trying to link expansion to the low income program that is set to expire.

The Governor’s commission is made up of nine members from around the state. None of them are hospital executives.