Justice Watch: Suit Says Florida Medicaid Fails Children with Special Needs
The Daily Business Review, the paper of record for the South Florida legal and business communities, reports that a team of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP attorneys is suing the state of Florida, in landmark pro bono litigation, on behalf of 1.6 million special needs children in a Florida court.
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the State improperly and inadequately reimbursed doctors. And when the state increased its reimbursement rates to $64.82 in 1996, the lawsuit alleges, the number of checkups actually doubled.
Health agencies under attack are the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), the Florida Department of Children and Family Services, and the Florida Department of Health. "You are talking about shots, you are talking about dental care, which is especially atrocious, and you are talking about specialty care where there is a shortage," the Review quotes BSF senior partner Stuart Singer, who leads the litigation and is resident in the Firm's Ft. Lauderdale office. "It's a broad systematic problem."
The article is available in hard copy and on line at the I.P. address accessed through the link below.