Florida's Medicaid dental benefits will remain under its own program despite efforts to roll it into the state's managed care system, Florida Politics reported April 6.
Three things to know:
1. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1950 into law April 6. It cut the number of managed care regions in the state from 11 to nine. It did not include any changes to how the state delivers dental care to Medicaid recipients.
2. The legislature previously debated whether dental services should continue to be under a separate managed care program. The state's Agency for Health Care Administration requested that the dental program be eliminated to require these services to be delivered by contracted managed medical assistance and long-term care plans.
3. Last month, HB 7047 was approved by the state's House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. It would have rolled the state's dental services into the rest of its managed care programs, but it was contested by dentists in the state who said the bill would create administrative barriers that could make dentists less likely to participate in the Medicaid program. The bill was tabled March 7.