Feds ask judge to reject mediation in 'LIP' lawsuit

A day after Gov. Rick Scott sought mediation in a lawsuit about health-care funding, attorneys for the federal government asked a judge Tuesday to reject the request. Scott filed the lawsuit this spring arguing that the Obama administration was trying to unconstitutionally link continuation of Florida's Low Income Pool health-funding program with expansion of Medicaid. Federal officials later said they would approve a two-year continuation of the so-called LIP program at lower funding levels than during the current year. Scott has continued to press the lawsuit, including with a motion Monday seeking to force mediation. In that motion, attorneys for the state contended that "the Florida Legislature now finds itself in the midst of a special legislative session in which it is still awaiting a decision --- whatever it may be --- about the future of its vital LIP program. The state cannot possibly anticipate at this point whether any semblance of its LIP program will continue to exist or how it will be funded if it exists at all." But in a response filed Tuesday, attorneys for the federal government disputed the state's position. "There is no basis for mediation as to the core issue alleged in plaintiffs' (the state's) complaint because the secretary (of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) has already stated definitively that she will not deny a LIP extension based on the state's failure to expand its Medicaid program and has already preliminarily concluded that a LIP can be approved for the next two years,'' the filing said. "Having eliminated any colorable constitutional claims raised by the plaintiffs, the terms that the secretary may choose to approve (for LIP) are committed to the secretary's discretion by law rather than to the discretion of plaintiffs, a mediator, or this court." The response also said state Medicaid director Justin Senior met with federal officials as recently as Monday to discuss remaining issues that need to be resolved. It was not immediately clear Tuesday when Chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers will rule on the mediation issue.