Buzz: Senate alternative to Medicaid expansion heads to floor

A third panel approved the Senate's proposed alternative to Medicaid expansion and now the measure is headed to a floor vote.

But things got dicey Wednesday when the Senate Appropriations Committee discussed SB 7044.

As Health Policy Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, walked his colleagues through the proposal, several senators became engaged in intense side conversations. The discussions grew so large that the committee went into an impromptu recess.

Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, later explained that some members had expressed concerns because the plan would temporarily put some beneficiaries into Medicaid Managed Care plans until the state creates a new private health insurance marketplace.

"The options before us were to temporarily pass the bill while we worked through it and got people involved, or try to draft changes on the fly," Lee said.

Ultimately, Senate leaders decided to move forward with the plan before them, which would expand access to health care insurance to nearly one million poor Floridians. Beneficiaries would be required to pay small monthly premiums, as well as meet a work requirement.

Rules Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, called the proposal a "major step forward toward solving a significant problem that is facing the state of the Florida and the nation."

Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rene Garcia, R-Miami, urged his fellow colleagues to "let Washington know that we are serious about taking care of our residents in the state of Florida."

"Let's not get caught up in some of the politics associated with this," he said.

Obama drops in

President Barack Obama will travel to Palm City on Saturday, the White House said. He has no public events . . . so golf? The ever tight-lipped White House press office would not say. He will return to Washington on Sunday.

Grayson on hold

Rep. Alan Grayson met with Sen. Jon Tester, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Wednesday and said there was no attempt to dissuade him from running for Senate in 2016.

"Absolutely not," the Orlando Democrat told the Buzz.

"I'm pleased to know that if I run the DSCC understands I will be a strong candidate," he said.

Grayson said he's in no rush to decide. "Elizabeth Warren didn't announce her race until mid September the year before the election. We're still in March. What's the rush? I think most voters would appreciate the respite from politics."

Meanwhile, Charlie Crist endorsed Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, for U.S. Senate. Crist had flirted with running for the seat now held by Republican Marco Rubio, but the former governor also is friends with Murphy, Murphy's father and Murphy's top political adviser, Eric Johnson.

Alex Leary contributed.