The Hillsborough County Commission recently voted to send a letter of support for Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum's lawsuit against the federal health care reform law.

In Pinellas, however, county officials don't know what to make of it. Asked about the effects on Pinellas, health and human services director Maureen Freaney told the commission the county was monitoring how the law would play out. She expects some increased costs for Medicaid.

"We're trying to just monitor and follow that," she said, noting a lot of questions remain.

Such as one from Commissioner Ken Welch, a Democrat: "There's been that lawsuit from McCollum -- what's his title?" He did quickly recover with the answer, with some help from other commissioners.

David DeCamp, Times staff writer