Tampa-based WellCare of Florida plans to leave the Medicaid reform program in Broward County and the Jacksonville area, citing the Medicaid rate cuts the Legislature has enacted in the past year. Wellcare intends to stay in the rest of the state's Medicaid program, where provider rates are about 2 percent higher than in the reform areas.

About 78,000 people will now have to be moved to a new managed-care plan in the reform counties. The announcement is a potential political blow to the 2-year-old program that former Gov. Jeb Bush hoped would change the way state-paid health care is managed. The AP reported last week that 25 percent of doctors have left the program, citing red tape.

The American Health Care Association disputes the AP's finding that doctors left the program. Also, former AHCA director Alan Levine said Wellcare's departure is good news.

"Good riddance," Levine said. He said Wellcare is likely leaving Medicaid reform because the program makes it more difficult to "cherry pick" clients who are healthy, and therefore profitable.

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