NEGRON: "ENCOURAGED" BY MEDICAID TALKS

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA - Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he is "encouraged" by the "good dialogue" between the federal government and Florida on the state's request for a Medicaid waiver. Florida must get federal approval to implement a massive Medicaid reform plan intended to save the state money by putting more people into private managed care programs. "As long as we're working together as partners, I think everything will go fine," Negron said. He warned if the federal government does not approve the state's reform plans that Medicaid will eat up an even larger portion of the state's budget. "If we don’t make changes…Medicaid could be as much as $300 million more than last year," Negron said. "That is not fair to other parts of the budget."